First Crush
by Jennarei
Summary: My first story ever! Goes through TLK, at least my version.   See how a first crush can change your life, save it, how they can turn into a nessesity for your life. For you. SimbaxNala plus some OC's.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, this is my first story ever and I would really like it if someone reviewed it, so please do! By the way, I do not own Lion King or any of Disney's characters.**

**SIMBA'S POV**

I watched as Nala walked outside of the den and sat at the edge of Pride Rock, where I told her to wait, her coat looked like it glowed in the morning light, wait what? She was my friend! Why did he think her coat looked pretty? Just then she yawned, snapping me out of my thoughts, just as she was about to fall asleep... "ROAR!" "AHHHH" Nala almost fell off of the edge of pride rock but I caught her by the scruff of her neck. "Ha ha ha ha" I was rolling around on the floor as Nala glared. "You should have seen your face! I was like roar and you were like ahhh and it was too funny!" Nala just glared " You could have killed me! I was at the edge of Pride Rock!" oh, she looked upset mabye I could... I stood and puffed out my chest, "But I saved you! That makes me a hero!" mabye she would think that I was brave! Instead she just rolled her eyes "Yeah yeah yeah, whatever." Well that didnt go as planned.

**NALA'S POV**

Well that was rude! I was just waiting for Simba at the edge of Pride Rock waiting for him and started to fall asleep when he just jumped out and screamed! I almost fell off the edge and died! I just gave him my death glare, when he didnt get the message I almost yelled "You could have killed me! I was at the edge of Pride Rock!" That seemed to work because he stopped laughing and decided that he was a hero! He looks so cute when he was trying to show off! But he had a crush on Jari, everyone said so! She had lime green eyes and a light brown pelt and was the fastest runner! How could I ever compete! My thoughts were interrupted by Simba pushing me over trying to pin me. But I expertly flipped us over and pinned him! "Hah pinned ya!"

**SIMBA'S POV**

Even when she was spaced out she beat me! "How did you do that! You were staring into space!" She just giggled. When she opened her eyes I noticed just how blue they were. They werebright with glee and went beautifully with her fur color. She was beautiful. I dont know how long I stayed like that, I lost all sense of time. I woke up from my trance when Nala climbed off of me. "Simba are you okay?" She looked at me as if I had two heads. "Yeah im just...um...tag!" I jabbed her with my paw and ran towards the watering hole. Hopefully she didnt think I liked her, I didnt. Right?

**NARRATOR'S POV**

They raced to the watering hole, Simba won, Nala was close behind. "That. Was. Cheating!" Nala exclaimed inbetween breaths. When the other cubs heard her voice, they walked over to find an exhausted Simba and Nala laying on the floor. Simba's best friend, a light gold colored cub named Kuju, immediatly shouted "Simba and Nala sittin' in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Simba and Nala both looked at each other and flushed red. Everyone's shouting became louder and Jari jumped in front of the embaressed couple and yelled "HEY! stop it! Its not like their dating!" Simba sat up and said "Yeah! Nala's my friend! I wouldnt date my friend!" Koju just rolled his eyes, he knew that Simba liked Nala! Recently he had been staring at her while her and her friends were playing in the shallows of the watering hole, Simba just didnt want to accept it! After several other protests from Jari and Simba, the crowd dispersed and Nala left with her 2 other friends Kiki and Tal to splash in the shallows while Simba started to play tag with his 2 friends Kuju and Miko.

**JARI'S POV**

Usually I didnt mind Simba playing with Nala, I mean they were just friends and Nala wasn't really competition, or so I thought! This morning, Me and the other cubs found them laying down on the ground about half a foot away from each other! That stupid little cub went too far! When everyone else started to shout and insist that she and Simba were together, I tried to protect my future as Simba'a girlfriend by defending the whole friend Simba agreed with me but that little boyfriend stealer just seemed saddened by this revelation from Simba. SADDENED! I had to do something about Nala or mabye, just mabye, she would think that Simba could be hers! My friend Mati was rambling about how cute Kuju looked today but I just ignored her and started to plan. After a good ten minute deliberation I stood up and started to walk towards Nala, this should show her not to even ATTEMPT to take Simba away from me!


	2. Chapter 2

NALA'S POV

I cant beleive that they all thought that me and Simba were dating! I mean, I wouldn't mind it if we were but we weren't! All that hapenned was us being tired after the long run here and we were resting! That's it! But no! Kuju had to go and insist that we were dating! Jari stepped in and defended us and Simba protested too. I just stayed quiet. After the whole ordeal I went to play with my friends in the shallows but even they went along with Kuju's assumption. "Sooo Nala, did you guys kiss yet?" Kiki asked giggling. "Yeah! We got together last night!" I joked splashing her. Tal giggled and nugded me "You wish Nala, we know you and Simba aren't together, it's just soo cute when you two blush!" My heart skipped a beat. "Simba blushed too?" I asked, I was expecting Kiki to laugh and say 'just kidding!' like she usually does but instead they just became serious. "You really didnt notice, did you?" Kiki asked, "He was redder than an apple!" I couldn't believe what I waas hearing! To prevent my face from getting any redder, I started a splash war inbetween my friends and the matter was forgotten.

SIMBA'S POV

I was going to KILL Kuju! Me and Nala were just RESTING for kings sakes! Nothing happened! Then he pranced in and started yelling that me and Nala were together! I tried to keep from blushing but I guess it didnt work! Just when I didn't think that it could get any worse, Jari jumped in and started defending me! I really didn't like her and to keep from needing any more help, I blurted out "Yeah! Nala's my friend! I wouldnt date my friend!" Stupid, stupid Simba! The truth was that I really liked Nala, I didn't want my friends to know though because they would not let it go if they did! I was able to divert their attention with a game of tag but as soon as we sat under a tree to rest they brought it up again. "Simba, if you keep staring like that at least blink, we wouldn't want your eyes to dry up!" Kuju thought he was funny, I was not staring at her! Okay, mabye I was, only a little though! It was really her fault for having fur that looks so nice when slicked down with water and eyelashes that clung to water droplets making them glint in the sunlight. Miko's next comment woke me up from my stupor. "Kuju, dude, I think he's drooling!" they both laughed while I glared. "Ha Ha very funny." Miko just looked at Kuju shook his head and replied "It is! You drool over her then deny liking her! Just go and ask her out! Before you dry your eyes!" I thought about this, mabye they were right. All I had to do was go up to her and ask her out! Easy. "Fine I'll do it!" I declared. I stood up and started to walk over to her but then my tummy started to feel funny. I swallowed but the saliva felt like it was stuck to my throat, every step I took was an effort. I started looking around wildly for an excuse to not go. Suddenly I spotted Jari walking towards Nala, Mati close behind. This was my break! I turned around and made a beeline for the tree where my friends were waiting. "Got too nervous huh?" Kuju asked. "No!" I protested, " Jari was going to talk to her, I'll ask her later." Miko just rolled his eyes.

JARI'S POV

My plan was simple, and brilliantly inspired.

(2 weeks earlier)

Simba: "Come on Nala! Don't you wanna swim?"

Nala: "Um, no thanks! I'm good!"

Simba: "But it's really hot today! And the water's really cool!"

Nala: "I'll just stay in the shallows!"

He agreed and played in the shallows with her the rest of the day. Nala was afraid of deep water! I was a genius!  
>I walked up to the girls and asked to play with them. They were playing Alligators and Fish. One person was the alligator and the others were fish. If you were tagged, you became an alligator. They let me and Mati in the game and I volunteered to be the alligator. Of course Mati let me tag her easily. Then we both zeroed in on Nala. She ran away from us, straight to the deep end. Everything was going perfectly! The shallows were like a small cliff, there was an edge where the water got about 3 feet deeper. We veered an unsuspecting Nala straight to the edge and she screamed with fake fear as we got closer. Her playful scream turned to one of terror as her foot found no more ground and she sank.<p>

SIMBA'S POV

"Simba do you want to play hide and seek?" Kuju asked me after a while of them making fun of my shyness, which was NOT true! I was not shy! Finding nothing better to do, I agreed and Kuju started to count. I looked around and saw a low hanging tree. I climbed up and hid in the branches. Kuju could never find me here. I heard him part the bushes beneath me.  
>"Simba come out where ever you are!" Just at that moment I heard a scream and looked through the branches just in time to see Nala's head sink beneath the water. She didn't know how to swim! I was supposed to teach her tommorrow! I jumped out of the tree and sprinted towards the water. I barely heard Kuju exclaim "Simba! I wasn't serious!" As soon as I hit the water I started yelling. "Nala! Nala!" Apperently she heard me because she paddled and created some splashing. There she was! I swam as fast as I could and looked around. She wasnt anywhere! She must have gone underwater! I took a deep breath and dived, I couldn't see anything but suddenly something moved and I grabbed it and hoped that it was Nala. I paddled and paddled until I reached the shore and collapsed from exaustion.<p>

SCAR'S POV

I watched the whole ordeal unfold from a small hill nearby. I usually found their antics boring, better than watching my brother rule the Pridelands, but boring. Today though, was actually interesting. Apparently the cubs did not know of Simba's and Nala's engagement because they began to jeer and make fun of some kind of mistake. Calling them 'Boyfriend and Girlfriend'. That wasn't so interesting. It was what a certain cub named Jari did later on as a form of retaliation against Nala. She drowned her! Well at least attempted to. Her plan was pretty good! For a cub. She forgot one crucial factor. My idiot brother's son. Nothing deterred that boy! He could have died as well trying to save his friend yet he went and saved her! He actually suceeded! After the whole ordeal Jari lied and said that it was an accident, but I knew that look she had when she chased Nala, that was determination, and hate. She had a spark in her. A seed of greatness that, if nurtured, could flourish. It was then that I began to see a way to aquire what was rightfully mine.

NALA'S POV

Jari had to be evil! She just had to be! I never did anything to her and she tried to drown me! Me, KiKi, and Tal were playing Alligator and Fish when Jari and Mati came over and asked to play, I had no problem with that, the more the merrier right? WRONG! She tagged Mati then the both of them came after me. I ran away and when they cam closer I faked scream to make Kiki and Tal laugh but then I couldn't feel the foor and I sank into the water! I can't swim! Simba was going to teach me tommorow! I screamed and hoped that someone could help. As I sank I held my breath and kicked, mabye I could get to the top! But soon, I ran out of breath and everything went black. When I woke up, I saw two black eyes staring back. I tried to scream but the only thing that came out was a strangled squeak.

"Heh Heh Heh! Try not to speak eh? You swallowed to much wata! But other dan feeling a little hoarse and tired you will be fine!" When the eyes went farther back I realized that it was only Rafiki and that I was in the den, in my mother's paws. What a relief! I was safe! I looked around and whispered, "How is it dark?" it was almost noon when I nearly drowned.  
>My mom laughed and said "You slept all day! And now you have to sleep again." I yawned, wow having a near death experience sure tired you out! I smiled and started to go to sleep.<br>I remembered a question I had but decided to wait until morning.

JARI'S POV

"It was an accident! I didn't know that she couldn't swim!" That's what I told Mufasa and my mom, Livali, the truth was, I really didn't mean to drown her. Although I didn't really feel bad that she almost did. It was a strange feeling that I felt when Nala didn't come back up. It was a nice feeling. Like if I did something...good. Of course the feeling was fleeting because almost immediatly, Simba jumped into the lake and saved the little runt! I groaned inwardly. My plan was foolproof! I scare her out of ever even looking at Simba by forcing her into deep water and telling her a few harsh words. I didn't know that the girl couldn't swim! Kuju and Kiki raced to Pride Rock after realizing what happened and told the grown-ups everything. the rest of the day was spent in taking care of the tired Simba and unconcious Nala. After my mom gave me a lecture on being more careful and considerate with others, she let me sit outside to watch the sun set. Everyone else was inside, or so I thought. After a couple of seconds of being outside, I heard a voice behind me. "Beautiful. Isn't it?" I whipped my head around and saw Scar, the king's brother. He scared me a little. "Yeah, it is."  
>"Did you know that Simba is going to inherit everything that the light touches?" he sat down next to me. Why was he bringing this up? "Um, yeah, he is the prince." "What if I told you that someone who was just as qualified to rule didn't get to because they weren't chosen?" He was getting stranger by the minute. "Then I would say that that wasn't fair to the person. Look, I have to go to bed now, um goodnight!" I raced inside to my mothers side and thought about what Scar told me, what was he doing? <p>


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, I think I packed too much in this chapter. If anyone can think of any ideas for a more appropriate title, I would gladly appreciate it!**

**I dont own The Lion King or any of the characters.**

SCAR'S POV

The little cub was smart and decided to go inside early. I only needed a little more time to talk with her but what I said would have to do for now. I liked this little cub. I saw myself in her. Mabye a little too much. Her eyes were the same vibrant green. Her pelt was a little lighter than mine, though not by much. A horrible thought entered my mind and I walked inside the den, trying not seem alarmed. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I looked at Jari in the paws of a lioness that I haven't seen before. Her eyes were a stormy gray and her fur was a greyish tan. As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened and she covered Jari with her head. When I didn't move away, she bared her teeth. I got the message and went to my usual place at the back of the den and layed down. It was okay, I didn't recognize the mother so Jari could not be mine. She couldn't!

SIMBA'S POV

After I woke up, I saw my dad's face looking back at me. I didn't know what was happening. Then I remembered. Nala was drowning. I think I saved her. I shot up and asked "Where is she is she okay?" I needed to know if she was alive! If I could ever hear her laugh or see those blue eyes. But then lost my footing and fell on my belly. My dad picked me up and put me back down in my mom's paws. "She's fine Simba. You did very well. Now how about tommorrow I show you the kingdom?" I perked up, all thoughts of Nala gone. The kingdom? The whole thing! I nodded eagerly and laid down. I was determined to get up early tommorrow.

The next morning I ws up just before the sunrise. I yawned and looked around. There she was! Nala was happily asleep next to her mom. There was a smile on her lips. I wondered how it would feel to kiss her. Would it feel like if my heart will jump out of my chest? Like if I could fly? I was dying to find out. A snore from my dad woke me up from my day dream. I ran outside to the edge of Pride Rock and looked down on my sleeping knigdom. Well, future kingdom anyways. I ran back inside and tried to wake up my dad. It took a couple tries but he finally got up and I followed him to the top of Pride Rock. He told me that everything that the light touches was our kingdom. I felt impossibly important. Standing there, next to my dad who was one of the best kings of all time (in my opinion) and staring down at the dawn of a new day in my future kingdom. I was taking it all in when a dark shadow caught my eye. It was a shadow land. covered in bones, dust and darkness. "What about that shadowy place?" I asked. This couldn't be part of my kingdom. Or mabye it was, mabye it was a prison! "You must never go there son." Why not? It seemed cool! I lost what he said next but then he started to run down and I wasn't going to be left behind! I raced after him and we reached the plains in a couple of minutes. There he started talking about the Circle of Life. He was explaining something that I didn't understand. Why was life so complicated? I was going to ask another question when Zazu, the annoying dodo bird my dad kept around for some reason, began to sing the morning report. Yup, he was SINGING. I was beyond bored when a gopher popped up and shouted, "Hyenas! In the Pridelands!" my dad told Zazu to take me home and took off to beat butt. Without me. Being little SUCKED! I looked around for Nala and couldn't find her. Where could she be? Just then, I saw my Uncle Scar walking in the shade. Perfect. I was gonna tell HIM all about my morning!

SCAR'S POV

When I woke up, I saw Jari running outside just as Simba ran by with my Idiot brother. "Simba!" she yelled at him in vain. She looked so heart was going to be too easy. I stretched and paced a bit inside the den. Best to leave her to her thoughts for a while. I saw her mother outside with Sarafina, Sarabi, and 2 other lionesses. Apparently they were about to go hunting. Remembering last night, I waited until they were gone and then emerged from the shadows. "Hello Jari." I said as I sat down next to her. "Oh, hi." she said, sounding just as sad as I needed her to be. "What's wrong?" I mustered as much fake sympathy as I could. "Nothing, Mati is off chasing Kuju and Simba's with his dad. I'm alone." Oh she was spilling her guts too easily. Cubs were much too trusting. "Well I heard that he's coming back soon and invited Nala on a special day to the Meadow. So when he's back from his date with Nala, you can play with him." This of course was all a lie. "Date? Who said it was a date?" she sounded and looked so hurt and surprised. I loved it. "Well, it's obvious that Nala likes Simba, perhaps he has decided to give her a chance. I don't like her to much though. I had someone else in mind for my nephew." I looked away at this statement but I could almost feel the desperation build up inside of the little cub before she exploded "Well! Who were you thinking of?" I laughed inwardly. "Why you! You seem much more capable of handling a kingdom than her. And seem like a better match for my nephew." Her face lit up like a fireflies back end. "Really? You know I always thought so myself!"  
>"Oh really? Is that why you tried to get them closer together by making Simba save her life?" I asked, challenging her. She shot back immediatly, "She was supposed to be scared! Simba was NOT supposed to rescue her!" Well she was irritable. "Well how about we team up! I have an idea but you, and only you can help me." I hoped that my quick offer didn't scare her.<br>She seemed a little hesitant but all of her doubt dissapeared when I told her "But if you rather have Nala have Simba and the kingdom, then I'll just be on my way." I stood up and started walking away. I was stopped by a desprate sound "Wait!...I'll help you" Perfect.

JARI'S POV

I wasn't so sure that his plan would work but it was worth a shot. I watched as Scar started talking with Simba. Confident that he was carrying his part out, I left to find Nala. I found her sitting under a tree. Okay, this wasn't going to be easy. "Hey Nala!" she looked at me and stood up ready to run if she needed to. "Hey no! Don't go! I wanted to say that I'm sorry!" This stopped her. "Really?" "Yeah, I didn't mean for you to get hurt, honest! And I wanted to make it up to you by offering to play tag!" Ugh, this was painful.  
>"Um...okay, I forgive you, but I'm it!" she started chasing me and I ran away. After a short while, I saw what I was looking for, a muddy puddle. I jumped over it but Nala was so intent on catching me, she fell right in. "Ewww!" she lifted herself up and shook some mud off. "Oh, that looks bad, mabye we should go back, our mom's should be back from hunting by now and we can both get baths." She looked at herself and agreed. A while after her bath started I spotted Simba run up and ask her something. Then, his mom picked him up and gave him a short licking. The only thing I heard was that the dodo bird, Zazu had to go with them. This was going to make everything a little harder. I walked up to the small overhang where Scar was.<br>"Zazu's going with them, is that going to be a problem?" I asked standing next to him. "No, I have no doubt that they will escape from the dodo. Everything is going fine." He stayed staring at some hills. I decided not to question his sanity. "So where are they going?" He only smiled a very creepy smile. "The elephant graveyard. There, my other partners will carry out the rest of the plan." I sat down and stared at the hills as well and saw Simba and Nala playing on them. Soon they disapeared over the top of the tallest one. I really hoped that Scar knew what he was doing.

After a while he said he had to go and left me alone. I got bored and went to find my mother. I found Mufasa and Sarabi snuggling in the den. Outside, I saw several other couples resting in the sun. I sudenly realized that I never had a father. I kept looking around and found my mother laying down with Sarafina under a tree. I nuzzled her and sat in front of her.  
>she seemed happy enough, her and Sarafina were talking about how the herds were doing and the comical sight of Kuju running away from Mati to avoid getting kissed. Right in the middle of their conversation, I couldn't help it any longer and blurted out "Where's my dad?" they both became quiet and looked at me. My mom looked at Sarifina and Sarifina nodded.<br>"Look honey, I don't know where he is. I don't even know WHO he is." I looked at her quizzicaly. She sighed. "Me and Sarifina came from the same pride. It wasn't a good one. When all of the females were old enough to not be cubs, the males rounded us up into a cave. All of the males from surrounding prides who didn't have a mate, or couldn't get one came. It was the first time I ever knew this happened, I was so scared, so was Sarafina." A tear slipped down her face as the painful memory surfaced. "They all attacked us, knocking us unconscious.  
>When I woke up, I found myself in a huddle with the other females in the back of the cave. They let us get out later in the day. Several weeks later I found out I was with cub. I finally realized what happened that night. We both did. Me and Sarafina both agreed to run away, to not let our cubs suffer the same fate. So that night, we ran away. We ran and ran until we almost couldn't anymore. That's when we found this place. Sarabi and Mufasa were kind enough to let us stay. With one condition. If one of us had a daughter, she would be betrothed to Simba." this was unbelievable. So Nala didn't have a dad either. But wait, me and Nala were both girls. Who was betrothed to Simba? "Nala was born ahead of time, but survived so she was betrothed to Simba. You were born too and Sarabi agreed to let us stay anyhow." I just let out a soft "wow" and sat down. This. Could. Not. Be. Happening.<p>

NALA'S POV

My coat was ruined! I was sure of it! Jari came to apologize and offered to play tag. While chasing her, I fell in a puddle and got mud all over my fur! Jari suggested we go back to Pride Rock and get a bath. By the time I got there, the mud dried and my fur was sticky. My mom let out a small giggle when she saw me. I was sooo glad Simba wasn't here! Mom then got a tube-looking flower from a nearby bush and poured the sweet smelling contents on me. It smelled like spring!Sshe then scrubbed me clean with a leaf from the same bush and started to lick me dry. I was almost done with my bath when Simba came bounding towards me. I smiled in my head. He looked so excited! His fur was clean and shined in the sun. His amber eyes were bright and his tail was swaying. I would have been so happy to see him if I wasn't in the middle of a bath! He paid no mind to that detail and said with an impossible amount of enthusiasm "Come on Nala!" I gritted my teeth "I'm in the middle of a bath!" His mom then scooped him up and started giving HIM a bath. He complained about her messing up his mane. I liked him alot but had to laugh. What mane? A tuft of slightly colored hair that was barely there? Please. "Okay, Okay, can we go now?" I looked at him "Go where, it better not be anyplace dumb!" He took me one time to watch wildebeast fight. It was beyond boring. "No, it's really cool!" this caught his mom's attention. "So where is this really cool place?"  
>"Oh...um..the water hole!" I was in shock "The water hole?" He knew I didn't like that place. Not anymore. "I promise, it's worth it!" I sighed and asked to go with him. They made us go with Zazu. This was just getting better and better.<p>

Okay, me and Simba had a plan to ditch the dodo. We were about to start it when Zazu started talking about being betrothed. I acted like I didn't know what it meant. Married! Simba was supposed to marry me! I was on cloud nine! But then he said "Yuck!" officially crushing my spirits. He immediatly began to sing and create chaos. After a while we escaped and headed in the direction that he said that the Elephant Graveyard was. He started boasting about him being a genius. If he wasn't so adorable I would have smmacked him right there. "Hey genius,  
>It was MY idea." He turned. "Yeah, but I pulled it off." Oh that was the last straw. "With ME!" He crouched and put his but in the air. "Oh yeah?" he launched himself at me and I expertly flipped him over. I won and ended up staring down at those wonderful amber eyes. I giggled with glee. He complained, obviously hurt that I won. I let him up and he attacked me. We rolled down a hill and I ended up on top again. I was staring into his eyes when a steam vent exploded. I looked up and was scared half to death. We found a giant elephant skull and Simba went to check if it's brains were there. A blue blur stopped him and pushed him towards the Pridelands again. "Hey look bannana beak is scared!" Simba was making fun of Zazu.<br>"That's Mr. Bannana Beak to you fuzzy! And we are all in very real danger!" Simba laughed "Danger? HAH! I laugh in the face of danger! HA HA HA HA!" I giggled at his cute antics until a shrieking sounding laughter erupted from the skull. Simba ran and hid behind Zazu and I hid behind Simba. Staring back at us were three hungry looking Hyenas. Holy. Crap.

SIMBA'S POV

I was brave! I was going to show Uncle Scar and Nala, and everyone else that I was just as brave as my dad! How you ask? By going to a place where only the BRAVEST lions go. The Elephant Graveyard. Yup. It was that shadowy area I saw this morning. And I was going to take Nala with me. She was going to see that I was brave. And mabye she would tell everyone else. I was also hoping that mabye, Nala would be scared enough to stay close, mabye she would want to hold my paw. If she did anything like that, then I would ask her out. Ugh, I'm such a coward. I raced out to the front of Pride Rock and saw Nala taking a bath. Oh well, I was too excited to care. I jumped up next to her. "Come on Nala!" she gritted her teeth and told me "I'm in the middle of a bath!" suddenly, my mom scooped me up and started giving me a bath. MOM! A bath? Now? I tried to salvage my dignity. "Mom! Mom, your messing up my mane!" she just smiled at me. After explaining where we were gonna go, she agreed. But my mom ruined everything by making Zazu come with us!

Nala was brilliant! She came up with a great idea to ditch the dodo. We were putting the finishing touches on our plan, when Zazu swooped down and starting talking about blossoms,  
>and 'affianced'. Whatever that meant. When Nala asked for the simple version, he said that we were gonna get married one day. Before I could stop it, my retarded mouth spit out "Yuck!"<br>Stupid, Stupid mouth! It had to have a mind of it's own. I really didn't mind this revelation. It made me happy actually! Now I knew that those brilliant blue saphires and musical laugh were mine. No matter how many stupid, retarded, things I managed to say. To cover up my comment, I put the plan into action. Creating chaos. After we escaped, I decided to break the silence. "I am a genius." Nala shot back angrily, "Hey genius, it was MY idea." Ah, our exchanges of fake fighting were my favorite part of the day. Especially since Nala looked so pretty when she was mad. "Yeah, but I pulled it off." Oh, she was mad now! "With ME!" I went into a pounce position. This time I would not lose! A couple of seconds later, I lost. "Hey let me up!" she got off and I attacked her again. We rolled down a hill and she won. AGAIN. I didn't mind this time because her muzzle was inches away from mine. I almost lost control and kissed her when a steam vent exploded. I looked up and saw a HUGE elephant skull. I started to go in to check for leftover brains when Zazu appeared in front of me. Shooing me away.  
>After making fun of him a little, I decided it was time for my first act of bravery. I waltzed up to the skull and said dramatically "Danger? HAH! I laugh in the face of danger! HA HA HA HA!" This earned me a giggle from Nala, YES! My joy was cut short when I heard, loud, terrifying laughter coming from the skull. GHOST! I ran behind Zazu. My first act of bravery was an EPIC fail. Out climbed 3 terrifying Hyenas. I was starting to regret coming here.<p>

**So, the usual, please tell me your opinions!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, don't hate me for taking so long to update it. And thanks for reviewing all of you who did! As for all of you who didn't, DO, Enough said.**

**Special thanks to The real simba for all of your help.**

ZAZU'S POV

Those inobediant, rambuncious cubs! They escaped. Only the kings could know where they' ve gone! Somtimes I think that the kings purposely made them so difficult to test my patience and devotion to Mufasa. After I finished explaning the whole betrothed business, Simba and Nala created utter chaos! I was trampled, thrown, even held hostage by monkeys!  
>After a huge crash, I was underneath a rhinocerous! "Excuse me madam but, GET OFF!" she paid no mind to me and stayed sitting. It was only when her rhino friend came along did she stand and release me. Ugh, I smelled like rhino buttocks. DISGUSTING! I then remembered the two cubs who were my responsibility. I flew around the Pridelands and finally saw two bright spots in the Elephant Graveyard. Good lord, they were going straight into hyena territory! I zoomed in. "STOP! The only checking out you will do will be checking out of here!"<br>Simba greeted me with an annoyed "Aw man!" Cubs. After expressing my concerns, Simba called me 'Bannana Beak'. Please, "That's Mr. Bannana Beak to you fuzzy! And we are all in very real danger!" "Danger? HAH! I laugh in the face of danger! HA HA HA HA!" He just didn't get it! Suddenly, a horrible laughter peirced the air and Simba hid behind me. Sure, NOW he was scared. Three, terribly ugly looking hyenas emerged from the skulls like ghosts from the grave. Mufasa HAD to get a new baby sitter!

NALA'S POV

They approached slowly, still laughing, as if they KNEW that they would get us. The female one chuckled. "Well, well, well Bonzai, what do we have here?" the second one smiled. "I don't know Shenzi, Ed?" the third just laughed like a phsyco-path and slobbered more than I thought possible. The one named Bonzai got closer. "Your right! It looks like a trio of trespassers!" I was scared silent. Zazu managed to stammer "And quite by accident I assure you. We were just passing by. Oh! Look at the sun, It's time to go!" he started to push us away from them. Shenzi jumped in front of us and steered us toward the others."Wait! We'd love you to stick around for dinner!" Bonzai thought for a moment. "Yeah! We could have whatever's lion around!" As they interchanged cheesy jokes, we slipped away and started running. We didn't get far when we heard growling behind us. Then, Zazu screamed and was gone. I was all out of breath, so was Simba. "Hey, wheres Zazu." We followed the sound of laughter and soon saw a beacon of light overhead. Zazu! He was on fire! "Hey!" what was Simba doing? Was he TRYING to get us killed? "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Shenzi did exactly what I thought she would do. "Like You?" Simba's face fell. "Oops."  
>No duh Simba! Sometimes he was such an Idiot! We ran as fast as we could, running on pure adrenaline. I followed Simba, I didn't know where we were, or where we were going, but I trusted Simba with my life. He led us straight to a spine, we slid down it like a slide, I grabbed unto Simba's shoulders, not wanting to lose him. We flew in the air and landed on a pile of bones, hearing snapping and growling behind us, we scrambled up and ran again, right up to a mountain of carcasses. We started to climb it but I lost my grip and started to slide into the hyenas jaws. I screamed the onlly word that came to my mind "Simba!" he ran down and swiped at the hyena's face, claws extended. She slid down and knocked into the other hyenas,<br>bringing them all into the ground. When we reached the top, we stopped for a second to catch our breath. In between gasps I said, "You. You saved my life. For the second time!" He laughed a little. "Actually the third. I saved you from drowning." This surprised me. He saved my life 3 times in one week! I couldn't stop myself. I put my paws around his neck and kissed him. Full on mouth kiss! I heard him make a 'hmm' sound of surprise but I didn't stop. I was in heaven. I finally pulled away after a good 5 or 6 seconds. He was in total shock.  
>He was just looking at me, eyes wide, mouth slightly parted. He started to say something but we heard growling. The hyenas made it up the mountain.<p>

SIMBA'S POV

I should have listened to dad, he told me not to come here! I didn't listen and now we were running away from 3 vicious, hungry hyenas. I was going to be responsible for all of our deaths. Nala's death. After running for a while, Zazu screamed. We followed the sound of their hysterical laughter to find Zazu being fired into the sky. While on fire! My mouth went and did another stupid thing! I ended up saying "Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" I had to tie this thing closed! They ended up chasing us up and down the whole place, I found a spine and slid down it. I felt Nala grab unto me and I tried to say that I liked her, just in case we did die but it came out more like "Ay ay ay ay ay ay ay" this was not my day. We flew through the air, landing on a pile of bones. I wanted to rest! My muscles were aching! But growling made me stand up and keep going. We ran straight into a bone mountain and started to climb it. We were almost up but I heard a scream behind me "Simba!" Nala was sliding straight into the hyenas jaws! I reacted. I ran down and swiped at it's face. I managed to catch her by surprise and she fell into the others. They were in a heap on the ground. When we reached the top, we finally rested. I heard Nala gasp "You. You saved my life. For the second time!" I laughed, no one told her who saved her from drowning! "Actually the third. I saved you from drowning." at this, she looked completly surprised. What came next caught me completly off guard. She wrapped her paws around my neck and kissed me! I closed my eyes. THIS WAS HEAVEN. I felt like I could fly, like my heart would jump out of chest!  
>NO! Even better! Words cannot describe what I felt at that blissful moment. She pulled away, sadly. I opened my eyes and my mouth. I could not believe what just happened! She kissed me! Now my stupid, retarded mouth wouldn't work! I tried to say that I liked her, Heck loved her! But my mouth was stuck. Suddenly, growling interrupted me. The hyenas were back I just pulled her forward and down the other side of the mountain. I would not let us die. Especially not her. Not now. But with my rotten luck, I led us into a dead end. We ran on top of a skeleton and attempted to climb the wall but fell through. Nala backed up against the wall. I stood in front of her. If they were going to hurt her, they were going to have to go through me. Weak defense, I know, but it was all I could do. I mustered all of the air I had and let out... a yowl. I was going for a roar. One of the approaching hyenas laughed. "That was it? Ha ha! Do it again, tell me." I geared up again but this time I heard an earsplitting roar. WOAH! Oh wait that wasn't me. It was my dad! He was here! And he was beating hyena butt! Zazu swooped down and landed next to us. After scaring the hyenas alot, he told us that we had to go home. On they way back to Pride Rock, I kept thinking about how much trouble I was in!<br>That, and Nala's magical kiss. I kept sneaking glances. She had her head down. Once or twice, I could have sworn that she looked back. I couldn't be sure though. I wanted to kiss her again soo bad! I remember the warmth that spread all throughout my body, the lightheaded feeling I had. The pounding of my heart, the feeling of her soft lips against mine. Her paws and arms around my neck, every moment was permently burned into my brain. I kept replaying it. I loved it. I loved her. My dad ruined the whole thing by sending her home ahead and keeping me behind with him. He lectured me about putting myself in danger. And Nala as well. That really hurt. Afterwards though, we started to wrestle and I knew that everything was okay. He told me that all of the great kings of the past were looking down from the stars. That was cool, they were looking out for me. I knew it. We walked back to the den and I saw Nala, asleep. She looked like an angel. My angel. I would make sure of that tommorow.

NALA'S POV

I was a complete idiot! I should have just said thanks, or given him a hug, but not kissed him! He probably thought that I was disgusting! Or, or covered in cooties! But It was worth it.  
>I felt warm all over, I felt tingly and light. I was floating, lighter than air! His lips against mine, it was pure heaven! I wanted despratly to find out what he thought. But I didn't find out.<br>We were interrupted by hyenas. He pulled me down the mountain and into a dead end. Okay, he needed to stop making stupid decisions. We climbed on top of a skeleton but fell through. I backed up against the wall. Simba stood in front of me. He tried to roar and scare the hyenas but instead he yowled. I mentally groaned. He meant well, I knew he did. But he didn't help things. On his second try there was a deafening roar. Mufasa! He jumped down and made the hyenas sorry. Sorry for everything. He then made us go home. On our way back home, I kept thinking about that kiss. Did he like it? Did he feel what I felt? I looked at him a couple of times and I think he looked at me too! I think. I sure hope he did. I was sent home ahead of Simba and his dad. When I got there, my mom looked at me up and down and fussed for a long time. When she finally calmed down, I saw Jari staring at me like if she had seen a ghost. Her look of disbelief turned to one of anger. She turned around and slept with her back to me. What did I do? I was too tired to care. I curled up next to my mom and fell asleep with the kiss replaying again and again.

JARI'S POV

What! Nala was still alive! That no good Scar lied! He said his other people would take care of it! I was too mad to get to sleep! I eventually did though, by listing all of the things that I was gonna tell Scar tommorow. And by listing several back up plans in case Scar didn't have any. My mom looked worried though. She looked around the den and always decided a place to sleep after everyone else settled down. It was annoying. Today, she was especially jumpy, she chose a spot at the back of the den, she placed me at the wall and stayed looking around for a while before finally laying her head down and going to sleep. What was she so afraid of? This isn't like her former pride! She was safe! For my mom to be scared, scared me. After her whole ordeal, she had become alot braver, she helped fend off attacking rouges once! So what could she be so afraid of? What could possibly scare her so much that she had to look for a spot after everyone else? I had no idea. And that terrified me.

LIVALI'S POV

No no no no! This could not be happening. This was all a nightmare. I would wake up with my daughter next to me, Sarabi waiting for me to join the hunting party, and my history buried and forgotten. I was not that lucky. Rafiki was still in front of me, waiting for an answer that was implanted in my brain. Locked in a memory that I never wanted to remember. I actually managed to forget, a while ago the answer that the mandrill wanted so badly faded away. And I was happy. But now, if I didn't answer, everyone that I grew to love, was in danger. My mouth was dry. My brain was still reeling. "So, did you rememba?" Rafiki was putting away the ingredients for a tonic he gave me. One that helped with memory. "Yes." I whispered. "I remember." Sarabi, Mufasa, and Sarafina were sitting close-by. At my answer, they put their heads closer, ears forward. My mind traveled once again to that night. To that night when my world shattered.

"Where are they taking us?" Sarafina leaned close to me, away from the two males who led the five of us to a dark cave.  
>"I don't know." This was true. None of us knew. When we entered the cave, they told us to wait in the back. We did. Disobedience in this pride meant a good smack, mabye with some claw. After a while of silent confusion, five males entered, including those who led us here, two I did not recognize. They all looked us over and smiled. I was terrified. The first to approach was a light tan male with a light brown mane. He walked over to Sarafina and motioned with his head to follow him. She whimpered, gave me a scared look, and followed.<br>She faded from my sight as she went into a tunnel. The next to approach was a brown male with a black mane. What struck me were his eyes. Bright green, Bright vibrant green. Almost iredecent. He motioned for me to follow him. I did, not wanting to get hurt. He also led me down a tunnel and into a smaller chamber. I was terrified. He gave me a creepy smile.  
>The last thing I remember was his paw coming for my head. And waking up next to him. He grabbed me from the scruff of my neck, thinking I was still asleep. And dragged me to the other lionesses. When they all woke up they told us we could leave. We did. Several weeks later, I felt a kick, a movement in my belly. In between that and the bouts of morning sickness, I concluded that I was pregnent. And that that lion that night in the cave was responsible. Sarafina, was pregnant as well. We decided that night that we couldn't stay. We wouldn't let our cubs go through the same thing. No matter how they were concieved. So we ran. We ran day and night, until we reached the pridelands.<p>

I realized that everyone was still waiting. I breathed deeply.  
>"Scar." They got wide eyed.<br>"Scar's the father, I'm sure of it, unless there is another lion with bright green eyes, dark fur, and and and, and black mane." they just stared. Mufasa finally breathed.  
>"Scars the father...Scars the father."<p>

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	5. Chapter 5

**It took me some trouble to write this. I did most of this today! Except for half of the first paragraph. So thanks to all of you who reviewed! And if you didn't do so now.**

SIMBA'S POV

The next morning, I woke up to a warm sun, and Nala's beautiful smile. She was in my direct line of sight. A little after I woke up, she opened her eyes, yawned and smiled. At me! There wasn't a better way to start the day. I smiled back and stood up, I stretched and heard a crack in my back. Uh oh. I lost my footing and fell on my belly. She giggled and raced over. "Are you okay?" I stumbled to my feet and cleared my throat "Um yeah I just tripped a little, that's all." she just giggled and ran outside. "Last one to the waterhole is a stinky warthog!" She wanted to go to the water hole? She noticed my hesitence. "Simba, how are you supposed to teach me how to swim without water?" Oh! The swimming lessons! I completely forgot about those! "Oh! your right! But your going to be a stinky warthog for the lessons!" I shot down the side of Pride Rock, toward the watering hole. I won! As usual. Racing and swimming were the only things that I could beat her at. Unfortunatly. She was close behind. "Do you have to win every race?" she asked me after she arrived. I laughed her face of frustration. It was cute. "If you have to win every time we play pinning, hide and seek, alligators and fish, and dare master, then yes." she only laughed. when we arrived to the watering hole, I was instantly tackled by Kuju. "Simba! You're alive! We all heard 'bout the elephant grave yard!" holy crap. Did they know about the kiss? Apparently they didn't because Kuju kept talking about how he was going to kill me because I didn't take him and left him alone with Mati. "But you have Miko." Kuju just rolled his eyes. "And where is he now? On his way to meet his new girlfriend, Tal! Which he asked out yesterday!" What? Miko liked Tal? And he asked her out? I looked around to tell Nala but she was gone. Darn it! I spotted her sitting under a tree talking to Kiki. Probably talking about the same thing. Kuju noticed me spacing out and turned around. "Did you ask her out yet? Did she jump into your arms? Did you kiss her?" He bombarded me with questions as we walked over to our usual spot. I lined up the answers "No, and no." He looked frustrated. "What about the last question?" I laid down in the shade and looked at him. Should I tell him? If I did, he'd make me ask her out and tell everyone what happened. Well, I planned to ask her out anyway so, what could it hurt? He beat me to it. "No way! You kissed her? I didn't think you had the guts!" I rolled my eyes. "Well, I didn't kiss her...persay...um I...um she kinda (gulp) kissed me." Kuju just gave me a look that just screamed 'YOU IDIOT!' he sighed "Did you at least kiss her back?" I just chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head. "Ugh." He slapped his paw to his face. "You, my friend, are going over there and asking her out right now!" In an instant he had dragged me over to Nala and Kiki. He flashed a smile at both of them "Hey girls, how's it going?" HOW COULD HE BE SO CALM! I managed to stutter out "Hey Nala..." Kuju nudged me with his arm. "Oh and hi Kiki!" they both just giggled. Nala finally spoke up. "So is it time for my swimming lessons?" I nodded my head. Why couldn't my mouth work? She just giggled and started walking to the water. I managed to follow. WORK STUPID RETARDED MOUTH! WORK!

NALA'S POV

As soon as I woke up, I saw Simba staring at me. I smiled. That's exactly how I wanted to wake up. Mabye he did like me. He smiled back and stretched. Even from where I was I could hear his back crack. Apperently, it probably hurt because he fell. I giggled, how more cute could he get? I raced over. "Are you okay?" He stumbled to his feet. "Um yeah I just tripped a little, that's all." I giggled again. I needed to stop doing that or I would seem like a stupid air head. I ran outside and yelled over my shoulder, "Last one to the waterhole is a stinky warthog!" He didn't follow. What happened? "Simba, how are you supposed to teach me how to swim without water?" He seemed confused but then remembered his promise. "Oh! your right! But your going to be a stinky warthog for the lessons!" He raced ahead of me. Not fair. I took off after him but lost any way. After I caught up to him I managed to say something instead of just staring. "Do you have to win every race?" He chuckled, I found nothing funny about the situation. "If you have to win every time we play pinning, hide and seek, alligators and fish, and dare master, then yes." I laughed. I did win alot. Before I could say anything else, Kuju attacked him and Kiki attacked me. "Nala! You're alive! Everyone heard that you went to the elephant graveyard!" Oh no, did they know that I kissed him, that I made a complet idiot of myself? She didn't though because she kept talking about how Maki was chasing Kuju all around yesterday, and how Miko asked Tal out. I couldn't believe it. Tal and Miko? Oh well, to each his/her own. I followed her to our usual spot of shade before bursting. "I kissed Simba!" She just stopped and stared at me. "You what? What did he say? What did he do?" I sighed. "He didn't say or do anything! He just froze there, he didn't even kiss back!" She looked at me with a sad look. "I'm sorry Nala." I smiled back, "It's okay, Kiki, he didn't say or do anything this morning that said that he was weirded out, so I'm fine." She smiled and looked around. "Well, I guess you made a right move 'cause here he comes!" I looked up and sure enough, there was Kuju and Simba, Simba looked ... uncomfortable. Kuju smiled "Hey girls, how's it going?" I smiled back but waited for Simba to say something, anything! He finally stuttered "Hey Nala..." Kiki gave me a knowing look. I just blushed. He suddenly burst out "Oh and hi Kiki!" We just giggled. It was too funny! I calmed myself and asked, curious. "So is it time for my swimming lessons?" He just nodded. What was wrong with him? I giggled again. Okay, I was beggining to sound like a air head. I walked towards the water and he followed, silent. I made it to the water and turned around eager to learn. "so, what do I do?" He just stared for a little bit then seemed to snap out of a trance. "Oh! Well all you do is paddle, kind of like if you were running. I neared the deep and gulped. I was beggining to regret this. He sensed my uneasyness and came closer. "Don't worry, I'll hold you." I waded in and immediatly started to paddle, I felt his paws hold on to my waist. Supporting me. I blushed a little bit. After an hour or so of pointers, and practicing. (And his paws around my waist!) we decided that We were tired and he invited me to rest under a tree. I followed him and when I sat down, He started to stutter. "Um Um...Nala...Um...I just wanted to kn kn kn know, if you wanted to um...be my girlfriend?" I froze. My heart was going a million beats a minute. He just asked me out. I tried to say yes but It came out as a unintelligible whisper. He looked like he was going to burst and then suddenly, His paws were around my waist again, and his lips were against mine. I found that my brain worked again and kissed back. My arms slowly wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer. We fell over, I was on top, he was on bottom. I had that feeling, that tingly feeling all around my body, the butterflies in my stomach were in a frenzy, my whole body was warm and light. Pure heaven. He pulled away slowly for air and had this goofy smile on his face. I whispered in his ear "Do you need me to say yes?" he chuckled nervously. "Another kiss would do!" So I did, I pulled him closer and kissed him again. Nothing could ruin this. NOTHING!

SIMBA'S POV

WHOO HOOO! She kissed me she said yes! The whole time that I was teaching her how to swim, I had my paws around her waist. I controlled myself. It took all of my control not to pull her up and kiss her. I enjoyed the feeling of her body in my arms. When she got tired, I lead her to some shade and made my move. "Um Um...Nala...Um...I just wanted to kn kn kn know, if you wanted to um...be my girlfriend?" STUPID! I did not sound smooth, or charming! Nala just froze and stared at me. Uh oh. Did She not like me? Was yesterday's kiss all a lie? I needed just one more kiss if it was! I didn't think it through, I reached out, put my arms around her waist, and pressed my lips against hers. I could not hold her close enough.  
>I felt her arms around my neck, bringing me closer. She was kissing back! We fell over, me on bottom, her on top. My heart was beating a billion-jillion beats a minute, my whole body was on tingly, and warm, My stomach was inside out! I enjoyed the feeling of her lips on mine, her arms around my neck, and her warm, body on top of mine. I pulled away slowly for air. I didn't want to though. I smiled, I couldn't help it. She smiled and leaned down to whisper "Do you need me to say yes?" My whole body shivered at her whisper. I managed to say "Another kiss would do!" she smiled again and pulled me closer to kiss me again. Oh, words cannot describe my joy at this point. And words cannot describe how angry I was when I heard a loud "Yes!" and "Finally!" from behind a bush. No NO! Darn! Nala got up from on top of me and parted the bush. Looking extremely happy, was Kuju and Kiki. "About time my brother!" Kuju shouted over to me and gave me a thumbs up. I just rolled my eyes. Why, of all possible things to do, Kuju decided to yell in the middle of Nala's sweet kiss? He just laughed at my frustration. "Hey! Blame your uncle! He's looking for you!" I rolled my eyes and smiled nervously at Nala. I whispered in her ear "We can continue that kiss later." She just whipped her head around and blushed. I mentally cheered. I made her blush! Me, Simba made Nala blush! I walked towards Pride Rock but when I got far away, I let out a loud "YES!"<br>I did a little dance and hummed to myself all the way to the base of Pride Rock, where I found Uncle Scar waiting, looking impatient, laying down in some shade. I raced up to him.  
>I greeted him and just kept blabbering about my morning, leaving out the kiss, and followed him. He led me down into the gorge and told me to wait for my dad. Apparently Dad had a surprise! He told me to work on my little roar. IT WAS NOT LITTLE! I saw a lizard and saw my chance. I roared until it echoed off the walls. Oh yeah, I could roar. I heard a deep rumble at the same time that I saw Nala jog toward me with a terrified look on her face. "RUN SIMBA! RUN!" I looked around until I saw a whole herd of wildebeast pour down the side of the gorge. Oh crap. I waited until Nala caught up and started to run. To run and never look back. I needed to get away. I couldn't let the wildebeast get me. They would KILL me!<br>I was still a cub though, and soon enough, they caught up with me. I felt a hoof connect with my head and the world went black.

NALA'S POV

I was enjoying the kiss immensly, just basking in the unbelievable amount of joy that was created by his question. I was pondering whether to get up from him, but decided against it. I just loved this position to much to move. I pressed our lips a little harder when a loud "Yes!" and "Finally!" came from behind a bush. I mentally cursed whoever that was. I relunctantly got up from Simba and went to investigate. Looking really happy was Kuju and Kiki. I was going to strangle them! Kiki just laughed. "You guys were too cute! And Simba's asking you out was too funny!" I just glared. "How long were you sitting there?" At this she shut up and whispered. "From when you guys sat down." All of that time! She was back there that whole time! I was about to shout at her when Simba walked pass me. "We can continue that kiss later." his statement made my whole body shake and heat rise to my face. I just stared at him go towards Pride Rock. "Enjoying the view?" Kiki's statement snapped me out of my thoughts. I just growled a little and smacked her arm. "Hey! It's not my fault!" I was going to respond but a loud "YES!" interuppted me. Kiki giggled "Looks like someones happy!" I just laughed. "Yup, that was MY doing!" Suddenly, Jari walked up. "Simba's in danger! He's in the gorge!  
>There's a stampede!" i didn;t think, I ran all of the way to the gorge. I ran down the side and spotted the stampede running down the side of the gorge. I yelled out "RUN SIMBA! RUN!"<br>He turned around and spotted the herd. He stood there, I don't know why! He finally started running when I caught up to him. He, being faster, got more ahead. But we were still cubs!  
>The wildebeast caught up to us and one of their hoofs hit Simba's head! He collapsed, out cold. I was too small of a target, they didn't hit me. I grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him towards the wall of ther gorge. I had to save him. I found a small cave. Yes! If I could just get there! I didn't get to though because I found myself flying through the air! A wildebeast used his horns and threw me. I landed on another's back and held on for dear life. I could just hope and pray that he was alright!<p>

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	6. Chapter 6

Okay, the internet was down fo a while so I have like 4 or five more chaptes done. ENJOY!

SCARS POV

I honestly wondered how these hyenas survived the day. I sent in 2 cubs and a dodo bird, and they couldn't even take care of them. I watched as they devoured the zebra leg I brought them. Their unending hunger and lack of brains was the only thing that kept their attention. I mentally groaned as I saw Ed bite his own leg. Hopefully the next plan I had for them wasn't that hard. I opened my mouth to explain to them the new plan but Shenzi interrupted me. "Hey, hey boss! I got some interesting information. Mabye you'll want to hear?" I motioned for her to continue. She WAS the most intelligent of the trio. "I was hungry, so I was looking for some meerkat. When I was walking past the monkey's tree, I overheard someone say that you were the father." I almost choked for no reason. The father? That was impossible! I glared and growled at Shenzi "Explain!" She gulped. "Uh, there was Mufasa's voice, and and there was Sarabi and they mentioned someone named Livali." NO NO NO NO NO! That was Jari's mother! How could I be the father? It was impossible! Unless, unless I had the worst luck in all of Africa! I remembered that night. The night when I let an old friend of mine lead me to a pride on the other side of the outlands. He told me that I would have a good time. When we got there, a male lion told me what we were to do. It wasn't really my style but I went inside anyways. Why not try it? I was told that I had my pick. My eyes rested on a lioness with strom grey eyes and a grey tan pelt. Her bones were not soft nor sharp, somewhere in between. I am ashamed to say that there were more features that I seemed attracted to. That night was very enjoyable. It made me feel dominant and in control. I had no idea that the result would be a daughter. But an heir nevertheless. And she inherited my intelligence, my insight.  
>This could contribute immensly. I shook off the shock and simply acted as if I knew all along and told them what they were to do tommorow. I acted as if this new revelation was normal.<br>As if it was simply part of the plan. When it was certainly not.

JARI'S POV

The next morning, I watched as Nala and Simba flirted. It sickned me. Nala was some kind of witch. Or just bribed him somehow. Simba liked me. ME! I was to be his queen. THE QUEEN! All thoughts of my mom's erratic behavior flew out of my mind as I went in search of Scar. He had some answers to give. I eventually found him in a cave in the back of Pride Rock. I was going to announce my presence when he something about a stampede in the gorge. A sudden spark of brilliance flashed in my mind. I immediatly tiptoed away before I could hear Scar say anything else. I had all of the knowledge I needed. I ran off in search of the little...um. Note to self, think of new offensive nickname Nala. I found her near the waterhole talking about something with her friend Kiki. I really didn't care what. I hid behind a rock and did a mental scan of the area. Simba wasn't nearby so that helped me. I faked that I was running and panted loudly and said the only thing that I knew would get her to the gorge fast enough. "Simba's in danger! He's in the gorge! There's a stampede!" She gave me a look of absolute shock and took off. Perfect. I followed close behind. My plan would not, could not fail this time.

NALA'S POV

I stuck out my claws as far as they would go and hung on to the horns of a wildebeast that I had landed on. THIS WAS TERRIFYING! I was shaking and the head of the wildebeast was moving up and down, I didn't think I could hold on much longer. The hundreds of hoofbeats echoed off the wall and created a terrifying rumble like thunder. Just then, I heard Simba's voice yell out "DAD!" that meant two things, that he was alive and awake! And that Mufasa was coming. Sure enough, I saw him jumping down into the fray. I couldn't know or see anymore because my current ride kept going, and stopped only when it encountered a river. I was about to jump off when it jumped in along with several other's and I screamed for the thousandth time today. How could a day that started out so beautifully, turn out so ugly? I tried to hold my breath as I was dunked again and again, as I thought of the life I was sure to leave behind. My mother, so kind and loving. Sarabi and Mufasa were like family! Would they all miss me? Would Simba survive? Would he miss me? I couldn't answer that question though. I finally lost my grip on the wildebeast and fell in the water. I paddled and held my breath like Simba taught me this morning. I surfaced and took a gulp of air. I found myself in the midst of the wildebeast. and tried to avoid the hooves and frantic movements of the frightened animals. I lost all emotional panic. I was a machine by then. Working on pure adrenaline. Dodge, dive, duck. I swam until I was clear of the death trap! Then I realized that I couldn't see the bank. I paddled and paddled but I didn't get anywhere! I was stuck in the current. I gasped and sputtered as I heard a huge roar. What was that? I finally recognized the horrible sound. A waterfall! How much bad luck can someone have in a day? I kicked and paddled and tried my hardest to get away. But I couldn't I prayed my hardest and thought my last thought. I love you Simba. And dissapeared over the edge.

SIMBA'S POV

Oh, my head. I looked around and saw a frenzy of brown and grey. A loud rumbling echoed off the walls and the events of the day came back to me. NALA! Where was she? I looked stood and looked around. WHERE WAS SHE? Was she okay? I ran out into the stampede searching for her. She had to be alive! She had to! I found a half dead tree and climbed up.  
>I held on for dear life. Wildebeast hit and bucked against it. I whipped my head around. "HELP!" I needed someone to help me down and help me look for her! I spotted my Dad, Uncle Scar, and Zazu. Help! "DAD!" he spotted me and raced down the side of the gorge. I watched in amazement as he dogeded and weaved in between the masses, making his way closer to me. He reached me and grabbed me with his mouth. I breathed a sigh of relief. My dad was here. It was all going to be okay. He made it to the wall and set me on a ledge. YES! We were safe. He let out a roar of pain and snapped me back to reality. A wildebeast stabbed him in the side. I watched, this time in horror, as he staggered to the wall. NO, he had to be okay. He had to! He jumped up and started to climb the wall. GO DAD! I started hopping up on rocks to meet him at the top. Everything was going to be okay. Dad would meet me at the top and all of us were going to look for Nala, find her, go back home, and we would all live happily ever after. Nala would eventually marry me, I would become king with my dad there, helping me everyday! I smiled. Everything was okay. A huge roar of pain and anguish intterupted my thoughts. My dad was falling. Down, down. Down into the stampede. "NOOOOO!" I raced down twice as fast as I climbed up and found him, laying down at the base of the tree I was on earlier. I ran up and tried to wake up. "Dad, dad, come on wake up. You gotta wake up." I nudged him. He didn't move he didn't breathe. No, no no no no no NO! He could not die. He was my dad, the bestest king that ever lived! He was brave and strong. He wouldn't leave me alone, not now, not ever! I crawled under his paw and let loose all of the tears I was holding. "Come back dad, comeback." "Simba, what did you do?" Uncle Scar? What did he mean, what did I do? "What will your mother think?"<br>"What do you mean?" He just looked at me with a sad look.  
>"If it wasn't for you, Mufasa and Nala would still be alive." No, this wasn't my fault, I never meant for this. What, what do I do?" Uncle Scar would tell me.<br>"Run. Run away and never return." So I did I turned around and ran. I couldn't face everybody after what I did, regardless if I didn't mean to do it. I was a terrible cub, son, lion in general.  
>Because of my stupid pride, I killed the ones I loved. I slowed down, the events of the day taking their toll. But a growling snapping sound drove me forward. Hyenas! What were they doing here? I ran and ran, I may have killed my father and girlfriend but I didn't want to die! Not like this! I ran and ran, all the way towards a cliff. Down I fell, into the thorny bushes below, I remembered hearing my dad tell me that these bushes were the edge of the Pridelands. The end of all fertile land. But I didn't care, didn't care about anything. I kept running, my body was now numb and all I knew was running. I barely heard the hyena scream out "We'll Kill ya!" No, no you won't I would take care of that. I ran into the barren desert, feeling the dried ground underneath my paws give way to sand. Sand that got in my eyes, made me slip and fall, filling my sunburns and scrapes from the thorns with scratchy sand. I didn't care.<br>I just wanted to run away. To get away from everything that happened. From the death and tragedy and sorrow that I caused. I don't know how long I went. The days melted together into one whole mess of pain. I finally felt my muscles scream and fail me as I collapsed unto the hot sand. And I cried everything I had. I cried until my already rough and dried throat burned even more. And everything went black.

SCAR'S POV

I left that little cub stranded in the middle of a gorge and filled the thing with terrified stampeding wildebeast. HOW COULD HE SURVIVE? HOW DID NALA GET THERE! I didn't know but it was getting under my skin. That little female managed to get him hidden enough so that he didn't get run over. I just ran and informed my idiotic brother about his son's impending doom. He raced off faster than I've ever seen him run. I was such a good liar. But when I met up with him, Simba had run into the fray and the little female Nala was nowhere to be seen. I watched in amazement as Simba climbed up unto a tree and yelled for help. He was stupid, but persistent. My brother jumped into the fray with total disregard for his own safety. Oh what fun to see him grab his son and get impaled by a horn! His roar of pain was pure music! But him, being my brother, had to start climbing the side of the gorge like a superlion or something. I met him at the top of his climb. Oh the terror in his eyes, pure delight. He breathed his last words. "Brother, help me!" I stared down and grabbed his wrists,  
>claws fully extended and whispered the last words he would ever hear. "Long live the king." And released, pushing him down and straight underneath the merciless hooves of frightned animals. His roar of anguish, surprise and utter pain was a moment I would never forget. Simba survived the ordeal and went to see if his father was alive. Ignorant little creature. I gave him some time to wallow in tragedy and descended to deliver the final blow. "Simba, what did you do?" I tired to sound as horrified and dissapointed as possible. "What will your mother think?" He just looked confused, frightened, sad. Perfect. "What do you mean?" Oh, sometimes cubs needed much too much explanation."If it wasn't for you, Mufasa and Nala would still be alive." Might as well through in the dissapeared girlfriend for good measure. "No, this wasn't my fault, I never meant for this. What, what do I do?" Comepletly trusting. This was too easy. "Run. Run away and never return." He did, he turned around and began to run. I heard the faint steps of my hyena workers. "Kill him." They took off. Eager for fresh meat and I started the trek home. Preparing my acceptence speech for my crown. And my acceptance speech for my heir.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

NALA'S POV

I felt someone pull something soft and warm up to my shoulders. Where was I? I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a small den, that was in a tree? I was laying down in a small bed made of leaves and long grasses. I felt the soft and warm thing that was wrapping me. It was a square thing, that was woven? I never saw it before. I was completly confused. Then the events of the day finally registered in my brain. The memories came flooding back. I kissed Simba. We were together but he was in the gorge and there was a stampede. She, she was on something, and and she fell off of something. It hurt her head to try to remember so she stopped trying. Ugh, why did her whole body ache. Suddenly there was a brown furred creature walking towards me. WOAH! STRANGER! I tried to call for help but found that my voice didn't work. The creature just chuckled and said in a soothing, motherly voice, "Don't talk. It will hurt your healing wound. We don't want you to go mute do we?" She took off a bandage made of a leaf from my head and applied some paste to it. She then tried to tie it around my head again. I resisted, who was she? What was she trying to do? WHAT THE HECK WAS GOING ON! She seemed to notice my distress and laughed. "I forgot you were unconcious throughout your whole ordeal. Well, why don't I start from the beggining. My name is Halette, I'm an otter and I found you one day, bloodied and barely breathing on the Silver Pool's banks. I knew that your kind ate meat but just couldn't bring myself to deny you care, so I called my husband and together, we brought you into our home and nursed you back to health using skills my mother taught me. Let's see, what's missing? Oh yes! The reason you can't talk is because you had several nasty gashes on your head, neck, and chest. It really is a wonder you're alive!" I had no time to process the information properly because she started to try to feed me a fish. "Come on, you have to eat! I've been feeding you smooshed oysters for almost 3 days!" 3 days? I was unconcious for 3 days? And this otter saved me? I looked into her dark brown eyes and saw nothing that frightened me. I was hungry too so I took a bite from the fish she was giving me. Hmmm, it wasn't as good as antelope or zebra but it was good. I gobbled the rest up. Halette, the otter, smiled and patted my head. she stood up from her seat next to me and went to a smaller bed and sat down, looking at me, while nibbling on another fish. "Of course, your welcome to stay as long as you like,  
>but NO EATING US! You will have to survive on fish, oyster and fruit now." I could live with that. I wouldn't ever dream of eating her, or her husband. They saved me. They saved my life.<br>I nodded eargerly and ate the other fish before me. Halette smiled and stood up when someone entered the den but I fell asleep before I could see who it was.

SIMBA'S POV

I felt water running down my face. Water? WATER! I opened my eyes and saw a small pool of water before me. I immediatly dunked my head in and starting gulping down water while having my head still submerged. I gulped and gulped and savored the feeling of the cool water running down my throat, quenching my burning thirst. After a while, I took my head out and came face to face with a meerkat and a warthog. What? They were together? In the desert? I took a quick look around, I wasn't in the desert, I was in a beautiful jungle. Green lush bushes and trees were all that I could see, and flowers in brilliant colors and patterns were scattered everywhere. An annoyed voice piped up behind me. "HEY! HEY KID! Heloo? Earth to kid?" I looked back at the meerkat. What did he want? "A thank you would be nice!" oh. "Thank you...?" He stood up straighter. "Timon, and this warthog here is Pumbaa!" I managed to smile and shake Pumbaa's hoof. "Thanks you guys but I have to go now." I started walking away. "Go? Go where?" Timon jumped on my back and stuck his nose against mine. "You were almost dead in the desert! Where did you come from?" I shook him off "Nowhere." I heard whispering and a few seconds later, Timon was in front of me. "Hey, what's eatin ya?" I just sighed, remebering the events that made me come here in the first place. "I don't wanna talk about it." Pumbaa just put a hoof around me and patted my side. Well it's like my pal Timon says, you gotta put your behind in your past! Wait, uh was it?" I smiled in spite of myself. That could not be it. Timon interrupted "NO no no! Ametuer, lie down before you hurt yourself. What Pumbaa was trying to say was you gotta put your past, behind ya." that was polar opposite of what I knew. "Well that's not what I was taught." Timon just laughed. "Well then, I think it's time for a new lesson! Repeat after me. hm hm hm...Hakuna Matata." "What?"

SCAR'S POV

"And it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne, but in the midst of this tragedy lays a diamond, the dawn of a new era, where lion and hyena, come together for a glorious future!"  
>right on cue, hyenas started pouring from all sides of Pride Rock. I congratulated myself on a brilliant speech. I watched in great intrest as Jari was not at all phased by the hyenas. She just walked up to me with a look of concern. "Are they really gonna stay here? With us?" I nodded my head. She sat next to me. "Scar...do do you know anything about my father?" The question genuinely surprised me. I was not expecting this. She looked up at me, one tear in her eye. I had a soft, weak spot for the cub. I had to fix that. Her statement reminded me of the most surprising news of all.<br>"Now, you may not know this, but a lie has been told, and a vital truth has been held from most of you. And me, until I was able to find the truth." Here I paused while the lionesses went further into shock.  
>"I have an heir!" At this, the whole pride broke out in gasps and whispers. Jari opened her mouth wide, her eyes were the biggest I've ever seen! "And she is next to me right this instant." I saw Sarabi, Sarafina, and Livali shake their heads. I could have sworn Livali say "No, no why?" Jari's eyes just got bigger. I pushed her with my paw and held her close. She was stiff, but then relaxed. Her mother, Livali bounded up to me and knocked me down with one swipe of her paw. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" I rubbed my head. She was strong. "NO mommy don't! Don't hurt him! He's my daddy!"<br>Jari was tugging at her mother's leg while letting go of tears. "WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME!" Jari yelled silencing all of the growls and yells from both sides. Livali looked down at Jari.  
>"Sweetie, I did it for you. I didn't want you to know, to get hurt because your father, didn't want you, love you." I looked at Jari. "I would have wanted her if I knew earlier. I would have helped raising her, I would have loved her. I do now." This wasn't the truth. It wasn't a complete lie either. Jari still was an annoying cub but she was cunning. Mostly I just needed her. Livali growled at me. Jari glared at her. She started to cry and whisper. "No mom. You didn't tell me for yourself. You didn't want to know who it was," Her voice got louder and louder. "you couldn't forgive him. EVEN WHEN HE COULD HAVE LOVED ME! EVEN WHEN I COULD HAVE HAD A FATHER!" Oh Jari was mad. I frowned in spite of my enjoyment. Jari walked over to me and sat in my paws. "He is my dad. He wants me. YOU lied." Livali looked as if someone had cut up her heart into a bunch of little pieces. She came one step closer and Jari just turned around, her backed faced her mother. Livali shed several tears before racing down the side of Pride Rock and out into the savannah. I carried Jari back into the den and the pride followed. They whispered and shot glares at me but all that Jari did was smile at me while letting go of some tears.<br>I smiled back and let her sleep next to me. I assumed my position in the kings spot. I enjoyed it immensly. I slept soundly that night, my kingdom and legacy secure.

LIVALI'S POV

I ran away. Away from the pain of my daughter's rejection. I risked everything, my life, my friend's safety, to save her. I lied and spent many sleepness nights keeping her father a secret to keep her from further heartbreak, to keep her from finding a father that could never love her, tpo save the pride from Scar making a case about her being the heir. To avoid exactly THIS. I DID IT FOR HER! Didn't I? I didn't care how Scar figured out that he was the father. I really didn't care. All I cared was that my daughter could mabye forgive me, see the story from my point of view. See why I did what I did. But she turned her back on me. She picked her just found father (who was a nutjob at that.) over her mother. I stopped when I found myself at the edge of the Pridelands. I started back. I had to go back, all that I was doing was clearing my head, Jari would come to her senses and come back to me, she would love me again. She was all I had. I had to get her back. 


	8. Chapter 8

NALA'S POV

"Okay dear, just wait until you see a silver gleam, that's a Silver fish, hence the name Silver pool, Yes that's it. Stay still. When you see that movement...Swipe! Perfect!" Halette was teaching me how to fish. It wasn't my first lesson but it was the first time she actually let me try. Before, she told me that I was in no condition to fish. But I was all better now, I could run, and walk, and move around. It only hurt a little when I ran because of one pesky gash under my left front leg. My voice was getting better but I was a bit raspy. When I looked at my refelction I realized something.  
>I had grown alot. I wasn't a cub anymore. I had to be a little more than half my real mom's length and almost as tall as her back! I wasn't a cub, but a young adolescent. My mind came back when I saw a movement of silver. I tensed and SPLASH! I felt my claws catch in something. I held it up. A FISH! I caught one! "Hey look, I did it!" M voice faltered on the last word. Halette clapped and added it to the pile. We were gonna have guests over today. Halette told me that her husband had finally been able to get in touch with one of his buddies and it turned out that they had a kid a little older than me. I wondered who they were and if they liked to swim and play tag. I didn't really play much since it was just me, Halette and her husband, Falo. Once Halette was sastisfied with the amount of fish we caught, she brought it to a big round rock that she said was where we would be eating. "Okay Nala dear, we need to get you ready for the visits!" She rushed me to the pool and told me to wash up. I did so and she came back later with a tube looking flower much like what my mom used the day that me and Simba went to the elephant graveyard. A sudden pang of homesickness washed over me. I kept remembering more and more everyday. It hurt, alot. Halette poured the contents and then scrubbed me with a leaf. "Oh my, you are going to smell nice and look beutiful when they get here!" I smiled as she commanded me to smooth down my fur. She had become like a second mother,<br>but she fretted too much.

I had just finished when a blur of brown bumped into me.  
>"They are here! Come on Nala!" I smiled at her exitement and followed.<p>

SIMBA'S POV

"Come on Kid! We've gotta get you presentable!" Timon was attempting to push me into the water so that I could take a bath. I had just spent 2 hours covering myself in mud and suddenly we had to go to some friend of Timon's house for the rest of the day! "Pumbaa help me out here!" Oh no. I was a bit taller than Pumbaa, longer, and I had some muscles now (I looked good if I do say so myself.) but if he rammed me, I would go into the water! "Huh? Oh okay Timon!" Oh no no no NO! Darn it! Pumbaa shoved me into the water and now, all of the morning's work was gone. I shook my head in a failed attempt to get my mane out of my eyes. Okay, so it wasn't a mane but I had some mane on top of my head and it fell into my eyes. I also had a little on my neck, more like a line. Timon started laughing. "Okay that's good, now get dry and try to look good. My pal Falo has a kid a little younger than you. Mabye you can have a new friend." I huffed in response and climbed out of the water. I spent a while licking myself dry. Finally Timon said that I was okay and we started to walk to his friends place. It took close to a half hour. I was underwhelmed when I got there. It was just a giant tree whose outside roots and inside was turned into a den. There was a big lake thing behind it with small water fall and a stream above that. I heard a deep voice yell out "Hey stranger! Hallette, go get her. Timon! Long time no see! Pumbaa, have you lost weight?" It was an otter.  
>He was taller than Timon but shorter than Pumbaa, His fur was brown and slicked down. I was supposed to be friends with an otter girl? I smiled and greeted him. I hoped that she was fun. I looked up and saw a lioness? She was a little shorter and less long than me. Her fur was a light tan and her eyes were a striking blue. Like the pool behind her, or saphires. It couldn't be. Nala died, She died in the stampede that I caused. I couldn't save her that time. But she gave me a look like if she saw a ghost. Was it her? Was it really her? Mabye it's another lioness. But I knew it was her. No one else had those eyes.<p>

"Simba?" Her voice kinda faded at the end of my name but that was her voice! A little more grown up but it was her! "Nala?"

NALA'S POV

As soon as I rounded the edge of the tree I freaked out. There was a male lion. He was a bronzeish gold. His eyes were kinda covered by a tuft of red mane, like Mufasa's, but they were the same Rust color as I remembered. He was a little taller and longer than me. He was a little built up but not much. It couldn't be. Simba was supposed to be in the Pridelands. Or dead.  
>He couldn't be here! But he looked at me with confusion. It had to be him. I finally took the chance to look crazy, or find a friend, find someone from my past. Someone that I loved and still loved to this day.<p>

"Simba?" He lit up instantly. "Nala?" His voice was a little deeper. He had grown alot! "What? Oh my gosh SIMBA!" I ran up to him and tackled him to the ground. "Oh my gosh I missed you! Its great to see you! How are you here?" I bumped my forehead to his and gave him a friendly lick on the cheek. I got up and smiled as wide as my face allowed me to. "What happened, how did you get here? What are you doing here?" He just laughed and shot alot of questions back at me. I didn't hear any of them. I was too happy! I was about to ask another question when a loud "WOAH!" caught out attention. Everyone else was staring at us wide eyed and open mouthed. Oh yeah they didn't have a clue that we already knew each other. The meerkat stepped closer to us and cleared his throat. "Can someone explain something to me? HOW THE HECK DO YOU KNOW EACH OTHER?" Simba chuckled. "Timon, Nala was my best friend!" Bestfriend? Was? I was comepletly taken aback. We kissed, he asked me out! We were much more than friends! And he said WAS as in not now. I was heartbroken. Nevertheless I smiled and turned to Halette and Falo. "Me and Simba were friends, as cubs. We. We were always together." Everyone was still speechless and looking at us as if we were aliens. Finally Halette broke the silence."So, um that's really great! Um, I have a pile of fresh fish, oysters, and water slugs! Who's hungry?" The meerkat, Timon, and his warthog friend perked up at the mention of slugs and trotted away. Every now and then they would look back at us. I smiled until they dissapeared behind our tree before turning back to Simba.  
>He was smiling. I loved that smile. It lit up everything around him. But I turned serious. "Simba, how are you here? Im...Im...Im so confused." His smile turned upside down and a single tear ran down his cheek. "What about you Nala? I thought you were dead." He didn't sound mean. Just, hurt. And dead? I smiled and nudged him. "I'm not dead, I'm right here. I was carried away with the stampede. I was tossed off into a river and fell off of a water fall. Halette said that a big one is a while from here, I must have floated all of the way down here.<br>Unconcious." He looked up at me. "So you weren't run over?" Ugh, was I not here? In front of him? I laughed. "I'm here. Simba I was not run over!" He smiled and laughed. "I know, I just thought that you were dead, because of of...nothing well Um you've changed!" I laughed did he not notice that he had changed too? "Well you have too, but you haven't told me how you got here." His smile faded immediatly. "I...I..I...I" He didn't get to finish because Falo came back and called for us to join the others. I gave Simba a final smile and raced to the table to eat my dinner. With Simba, my lost love behind me.

SIMBA'S POV

"Nala?" She screamed "What? Oh my gosh SIMBA!" She ran up to me and before I could react she had me pinned on the ground. She bumped my forehead and licked my cheek. An all too familiar warmth and tingling sensation spread through my body. Woah. Did she know she did that to me? Probably not. "NALA! Its great to see you! How are you here? What happened?" After saying several things, way too fast for me to understand, she got up from me. Smiling a mile wide like me. She asked me more questions that I couldn't understand and I laughed. I shot back more questions, excitement filled every part of my body. A loud "WOAH!" from Timon silenced us both. Everyone was staring at us in comeplete shock. Timon stepped up and cleared his throat. "Can someone explain something to me? HOW THE HECK DO YOU KNOW EACH OTHER?" Timon was always so exciteable! "Timon, Nala was my best friend!" I stopped myself from saying girlfriend. Best to leave that for later. Nala turned to the otter couple and explained further. "Me and Simba were friends, as cubs. We. We were always together." It was the truth. Everyone was still shocked but after an announcement of food from the female otter, they left. I was still smiling until Nala asked me a question I regretted. "Simba, how are you here? Im...Im...Im so confused." She didn't know what I did. I couldn't let her know, she would hate me. I countered with a thought that had been on my mind for the short time I knew she lived. "What about you Nala? I thought you were dead." She just nudged my shoulder. "I'm not dead, I'm right here. I was carried away with the stampede. I was tossed off into a river and fell off of a water fall. Halette said that a big one is a while from here, I must have floated all of the way down here.  
>Unconcious." I just couldn't believe it. "So you weren't run over?" she rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed. "I'm here. Simba I was not run over!" Oh, yeah. I must have sounded stupid.<br>I smiled and laughed "I know, I just thought that you were dead, because of of...nothing well Um you've changed!" I now noticed how beautiful she was. Her face lost some of its cubbish appearence, Her eyes stood out now, and her body was longer, she had already started to develop a lionesses curves. I blushed at this thought and forced my attention to what she was saying. "Well you have too, but you haven't told me how you got here." Oh we were back to that. "I...I..I...I" the otter named Falo came over and invited us to eat. I mentally thanked him for saving me. I walked behind her, kinda enjoying the view, while mentally kicking myself for enjoying it. I was growing up, I was a boy, could you blame me? Okay mabye.  
>When we got to the table I saw fish! A type of meat other than bugs! I ate as much as I could and answered the otter's questions politely. But I kept glancing at Nala. Well, I couldn't help it, she was beautiful! I thought she was looking at me too but I couldn't tell. After dinner, Timon and the otters said that they were going inside but that we were allowed to stay outside for a while.<p>

NALA'S POV

During dinner, I watched as Simba devoured the fish as if it was the only meat for miles. I giggled at his unquenchable hunger. I answered all questions politely and laughed at some stories that Timon told about Simba. Apparently he got stuck in a termite mound! I expected Simba to say something but he was occupied with the fish. I stared. I couldn't help it! He had already begun to get wider shoulders. More muscular frame, and his mane was coming in. Most of his cub features were gone, replaced by the handsomeness of a growing lion. Already! I tried to imagine him full-grown. Wow. I kinda turned red. I thought I saw him stare back but I couldn't be sure. After dinner, me and Simba were allowed to stay outside for a while. After a short while of silence (uncomfortable one) He turned to me. "You want to race?" I laughed. "Like when we were cubs?" He nodded, while smiling, hopefully thinking of the same memory as I was. I got into a running position. "Okay then, 1, 2 GO!" I shot off, ignoring the small tear I heard under my arm. I heard him easily catch up and pass me. I laughed but a sudden pain stopped me. I looked under my arm and saw a warm red liquid trickling down, the wound open again. I rolled my eyes. Did it have to do that now? I started to lick it as Simba came into view. "Nala, what happened?" I looked up, why did the cut have to be in such an odd place? "Nothing, nothing, Its just a cut." He noticed some blood come down my arm and turned serious. "Nala, lift up your arm." Really? "Okay mother." I lifted my arm and when he saw the cut, he started freaking out. "Nala, what happened, this isn't just a cut! We need to get you back!" he started to try to support me but I was not that weak. "Honest Simba! It's just a stubborn cut that never comepletly healed. That's all!" but he persisted. I knew he would.  
>"Yeah, A cut that is long, deep, and that is bleeding right now come on!" He stuck his arm under mine and supported me the whole way. I wasn't complaining. His arm was warm and felt strong underneath mine. And I thought his concern was sweet. Mabye he did still like me. When we reached home, Halette was inside. "Oh, that nasty cut opened again. Go in and rest Nala, Simba stay with her and make sure that she stays laying down while I go out and get some Juty berries." I rolled my eyes and laid down on my bed to lick the cut again. Simba was next to me like a sentry or something. "Why did you race if this was going to happen?" I looked up. "Simba, if I was careful all of the time what fun would I have?" He looked away deep in thought. I smiled. Soon, Halette came in and started to treat it for the 4 time this month. It stung. BAD. I looked up at Simba who was still there and he was looking at me, comepletly spaced out. I smiled, heat rising to my face and he looked away. Almost immediatly, Timon came in and said that they had to go. After they left Halette looked at me with a smile. "So, you and Simba know each other?" I nodded. "We were best friends as cubs." She kept looking at me. "You two were something more, weren't you?" I stared at her, face bright red. "How, how didyou..." She laughed. "He kept staring at you, looking you up and down. Much to many times if you ask me! And I saw you stare at him many times as well." I turned even redder at thisrevealing statement. "don't worry, your father doesn't know, and I think he still likes you. How about, I arrange for you to visit them?" I nodded meekly and smiled. She patted my head and I went to sleep. Dreams of Simba's kiss and embrace filling my head.<p>

SIMBA'S POV

I turned to Nala. "You want to race?" She laughed "Like when we were cubs?" I nodded. "Okay then, 1, 2 GO!" She shot off. "Hey!" I followed and got close behind, in a couple seconds, I passed her. "Your still a slow poke!" I yelled behind me. No response. She wasn't there. I looked around and traced my steps and found her halfway down the path. She was licking at something. "Nala, what happened?" She looked up and looked embarassed. "Nothing, nothing, Its just a cut." I saw a trace of blood run down her leg. "Nala, lift up your arm." She huffed "Okay mother." She lifted her arm. A CUT? She called an open gash a cut? "Nala, what happened, this isn't just a cut! We need to get you back!"  
>I tried to support her but she pulled away. "Honest Simba! It's just a stubborn cut that never comepletly healed. That's all!" "Yeah, A cut that is long, deep, and that is bleeding right now come on!" I put my right arm under her left one and helped her back despite her protests. When we got back, Halette greeted us. "Oh, that nasty cut opened again. Go in and rest Nala, Simba stay with her and make sure that she stays laying down while I go out and get some Juty berries." Nala rolled her eyes and went inside to a bed made of leaves and layed down to lick her wound. I sat next to her. "Why did you race if this was going to happen?" she just looked at me. "Simba, if I was careful all of the time what fun would I have?" She was right. Halette came in shortly after and started to treat Nala's cut. I took advantage of Nala's diverted attention to look at her better. Her ears were back, probably from the stinging, her fur was the same light tan that I remebered. But she grew up, she was no longer all cub cute. She was a young adolescent. She had a stark beauty already. I could just imagine her when she was fully grown. It gave me chills thinking about it. She looked at me and a embarrased smile spread on her face. Dang it! I looked away and acted like nothing happened. I wondered what she thought about me, if she loved me, like I never stopped loving her. I wondered if she wanted to kiss me again. I felt my face get hot and red thinking about kissing her again. Timon came in and told me that it was time to go. I reluntantly said goodbye and we made our way back home. "SIMBA!" I snapped out of my trance and looked at Timon. "HUH? What?" he laughed. "Your thinking about Nala arent ya?" I felt the heat rise to my face "Hey look Timon, he's blushing!" I glared at Pumbaa and laid down in bed. Timon turned serious and hopped in front of my face. "Simba I saw you stare at her. ALOT. And she was looking at you too. Do you like her?" I was amazed at his seriousness. I nodded as my face got red. "He paced in front of me then turned around. "Then I'll invite her over one day and you, my friend, can work some cassanova magic on her!" I just smiled and laughed at his plan but agreed. That night, I went to sleep dreaming of my sweet Nala.<p>

JARI'S POV

I stared at my reflection in the small pool of water that was once the waterhole. I was beautiful. My eyes stood out, my slightly sharp bones were a rare quality in the Pridelands. My fur was a lighter versions of my dad's Scar's fur. I had only a little of my cub features now, they melted away quickly. I got a quick drink before turning around and coming face to face with Nuka. He was the EXTREAMLY annoying son of Zira. Zira was my stepmother. Since my mother decided that I didn't lover her anymore, she was going to leave, she did. It was 3 weeks now that no one has seen or heard from her. My dad insisted that I needed a mother figure so he took Zira as his queen. Truthfully, she was the only one willing to be his mate. Nuka was a cub from a rouge that had 'forced' himself on Zira. I didn't believe it. Zira was the type of lion who despised alot of others, for no good reason. She thought that her son, Nuka deserved to be king. The only problem was...Nuka was a comeplete and utter nutjob! Scar wouldn't have it! Neither would I, since I was the rightful heir. Nuka and Zira thought that the only way to the throne was through me. Nuka constantly tried to woo me but it usually ended with him on the floor, knocked down by my paw. "Heeyyyy, Jari, you look mighty slim today!" I rolled my eyes. Did that mean that I looked fat the rest of the days? "Buzz off Nuka." He followed me. "Your eyes are as green as the grass, the leaves, the wings of the yipping beetle!" I turned around "Nuka, I don't like you, never have, never will! GO AWAY!" He just frowned. "YOUR HEART WILL BE MINE FAIR MAIDEN!" He ran away and I breathed a sigh of relief. I laid down under the shade of one of the last green trees in the savannah. The rains had stopped, the sun got hotter, and as a result, fewer trees, less grass, less food for the pride. My first lesson in hunting was postponed because of lack of food. They didn't want a rookie screwing up any chances they had of catching something. The Pridelands were dying and I wondered if Simba was doing it from the stars because Nala was telling him too. Apparently Simba had somehow heard of Nala going there and the two cubs were killed.  
>I shed a tear. Simba was the only one for me. I would have no one else. My thoughts were interupted by Scar finding me. "Jari, do come inside the den, it's much to hot out here!" I followed him inside and sat down where he told me too. I had seen his wrath when someone didn't do as they were told. Hyenas were regularly beaten for asking for more food.<br>I watched as he beat another one. I found it fun. More fun than listening to Zazu sing from his cage. Scar turned to me. "Jari now look, in a couple of months, you will be fully grown. I believe it best that you choose someone to be betrothed to now." I just stared at him. "Scar, there are two other males besides you in this Pride. Nuka and Bonsu." He didn't get my point.  
>"So who will it be?"I rolled my eyes, "Bonsu. Anyone but Nuka." Dad nodded, sastisfied and left to attend to more angry hyenas. I didn't like my life. Betrothed to Bonsu. Oh boy. <p>


	9. Chapter 9

NALA'S POV

I woke up to Halette nudging me. "Nala, Nala wake up dear! You have to get ready!" I stared at her and yawned "What for?" she giggled. "Well I talked to Timon and Pumbaa and they said that you were welcome to visit today!" It took a while to register in my head but then I shot up and ran outside. I ran over Falo and splashed into the water. I needed to get clean now! Falo groaned and sat up. "Nala, what was that?" I looked at the disheveled otter. "Sorry! I just need to get ready now!" After a quick bath, I ran inside and started eating my breakfest.  
>"Woah! Slow down Nala! You have time!" Halette was laughing at my hurry. "I'll be right back." She left me to my fish and mango and came back with a pink flower and started rubbing it on my whole body. "This," Halette explained, "Will make you irresistable!" When She finished my rub down, she let me go. Apparently Simba lived near Salmon stream. I already knew where that was so I just followed an old path. I was excited now. A whole day with Simba!<p>

SIMBA'S POV

I woke up to Timon jumping on my stomach. "Wake up kid!" I groaned and rolled over, squashing him. "MmMmMmmMmM!" I laughed and got up from him. "NEVER do that again!" He glared at me. "You got to go get ready kid. Nala's comin over soon!" Nala! I ran to a small river nearby and took a quick bath. I came back to my bed to find some bugs already there. I gobbled them up and ate a strawberry for good breath. Timon found me trying to get my mane from out of my eyes. "Let me look at ya." I turned around. "Good, now give me a dashing smile. Good. Now tell me how your gonna greet her." I just stalled. "Um...Hi Nala?" He threw a fit. "NO Simba no. Look do this. Hey there, Nala, may I say that your looking mighty pretty today." Little did he know that Nala was right behind him. She was there since I said 'Hi Nala' I really wished that she didn't know that this was for me to impress her. "Why thank you Timon!" "AHHH!" Timon jumped up and ran behind me. Nala just laughed. I loved that laugh. "Goodness. You lady, need a catbell or something! Yeesh!" she just giggled. Ahh, it sounded like bells. "Well, I'll leave you two a-l-o-n-e." way to be subtle Timon! I just laughed nervously. "So Nala, what do you want to do?" She just smiled and before I knew it, she had me pinned down. "HAH! I can still pin you!" Her muzzle was inches from mine, and a sudden warmth spread through me. Woah. "Oh yeah!" I flipped us around and this time I was on top.  
>But only for a second because she flipped us and pinned me. "Yeah." Ugh, seriously! I pushed her off. "Okay then, miss pinning queen, how about we...play alligators and fish?" It was one of our favorite games as cubs. She laughed again. It made me warm inside, everytime she smiled or laughed."Okay then, but your the alligator!" She ran past me and jumped into the water. It made a splash and her eyelashes were covered in glinting water droplets, making her eyes seem framed by diamonds. I think I drooled. I jumped in and chased her through the shallows. She somehow avoided me with every lunge I made. She laughed again and I realized that I was laughing too. She ran away and suddenly dissapeared. OH NO! NOT AGAIN I reached her quickly enough to keep her from drowning. I pulled her to the shallows. "SIMBA I CAN SWIM!" I had my arms around her waist, her face only inches away from mine. "Don't you remember? You taught me when we were cubs." I smiled at the memory. "Yeah, right before I asked you out and kissed you." she frowned. Oh STUPID! mabye she didn't like me anymore! "yeah. Right before." She leaned forward and brushed her lips against mine softly, barely. That was sweet torture! I felt my heart speed up even faster than it already was and heat rise up to my face. "Simba, your still holding me." I snapped out of my trance "Yeah, I don't wanna let go." I hoped that sounded smooth and charming. I pulled her closer and put my lips against hers, softly, waiting for her to kiss back or something! Meanwhile I enjoyed the soft, sweet, amazing kiss. I hoped she felt the same warmth and lightness that I felt. I pulled away slowly. Her eyes were closed, they slowly opened revealing 2 sparkling gems. That small thing alone drove me crazy inside. She smiled back.<p>

NALA'S POV

I found Simba by following voices. I got there just in time to see Timon talking to a small plant.  
>"NO Simba no. Look do this. Hey there, Nala, may I say that your looking mighty pretty today." was he trying to get Simba to flirt with me? I giggled. He was too funny! I caught my breath. "Why thank you Timon!" "AHHH!" Timon jumped up and ran behind Simba. I just laughed. "Goodness. You lady, need a catbell or something! Yeesh!" I surpressed my laughter into giggles. Timon recovered from his fright and started to slink away. "Well, I'll leave you two a-l-o-n-e." not too subtle Timon. Simba glared and laughed nervously. He was cute.<br>"So Nala, what do you want to do?" I just smiled and launched myself at him. "HAH! I can still pin you!" his muzzle was inches from mine, his eyes wide. I was lost in those bronze eyes when he flipped me over. I recovered quickly and pinned him again. "yeah" He pushed me off, annoyed and offered to play alligators and fish. It was our favorite game as cubs. I laughed and started for the water. "Okay then, but your the alligator!" I jumped in and turned around Simba was standing there, mouth agape. He finally came in after me and chased me around the shallows. We were both laughing when My foot found no ground and I sunk in the water I was about to start to paddle when I felt 2 strong arms around me and they pulled me up into the shallows. I called him several times. "SIMBA I CAN SWIM!" he finally looked at me, his arms were around my waist, his face inches from mine. "Don't you remember? You taught me when we were cubs." I smiled at the memory. "Yeah, right before I asked you out and kissed you." what did he say? So he did remeber us being together! I frowned "yeah. Right before." I leaned forward and brushed my lips against his, just barely. I wanted to see what would happen. "Simba, your still holding me." he snapped out of some trance "Yeah, I don't wanna let go." he didn't? He pulled me closer and pressed his lips, softly, sweetly, against mine. I felt like if I was on cloud nine but I didn't react. He pulled away and I slowly opened my eyes and smiled. Savoring every moment. He had a smile on his face, his red face. He was blushing! I reached up to his ear and whispered. "Consider your kiss continued." I felt his body shiver slightly. His face got redder. I put my arms around his neck and started to play with a small bunch of mane at the base of his neck. "Soo," I said trying to sound as sweet as possible, "Watcha wanna do?" He smiled slightly. "This." He pulled me close and kissed me again, this time a bit stronger than last time. I kissed back now, pulling him closer. I continued to play with the small bunch of mane as he pulled me as close as possible. We fell over, me on top, him on bottom. Just like that day under the tree. It was perfect. I felt lighter than air, warm all over, butterflies invited friends and threw a party in my stomach. I realized that I needed to breathe and pulled away ever so slowly, savoring the last moments of the kiss as much as possible. When I opened my eyes, Simba was smiling as goofily as the day of the swimming lessons. I giggled and waved my paw in front of his face. "heloooo? Simba?" he shook his head and seemed to finally realize the position we were in and blushed a deep red. "um...um, wow!" I giggled again and started to trace lazy circles on his shoulder. "So you still like me don'tcha?"

SIMBA'S POV

I waited for her to say something, anything! She finally put her mouth to my ear and whispered "Consider your kiss continued." I shivered at the feeling of her whisper against my ear,  
>my face got hotter. Why did she do this to me? I added whisper to the list of things that made me go crazy inside. She slowly wrapped her arms around my neck and started playing with a small tuft of mane at the base of my neck, I shivered again. Add this to the list too. "Soo," she said sounding sweet and innocent as if she had no idea as to what she was doing to me.<br>"Watcha wanna do?" I smiled, that was to easy of a question. "This." I pulled her close again, kissing her a bit harder than before. She kissed back this time, and continued playing with the small tuft of mane on my neck. It was all amazing. The warm, light, tingly, buzzy feeling all over my body. I needed her closer! I pulled her close until I felt our bodies touch and we fell over. Me on bottom, her on top. I loved every second of it, I loved her. She finally needed to breath and pulled away slowly, torturing me. I laid my head back and just let my uncontainable joy make me smile. A paw and an angelic voice brought me back to earth. I looked around and the situation finally hit me. I felt myself turn even redder than what I was.  
>"um...um, wow!" that was lame of me! um um wow? That was all I could say? It was okay though because she giggled and started tracing circles in my shoulder. I shivered again. Add this to the list of 'Things that Nala does that drive me crazy for her' list! "So you still like me don'tcha?" she used her sweet voice again. she had no idea. "Yes, big, big yes!" Okay, that didn't sound smooth either. she smiled and leaned down to whisper "Well I never stopped." She didn't? even when she didn't know if I was alive or not? Wow. That was incredibly cool. I nuzzled her head. "Me either." she smiled and leaned down to kiss me again, Oh I shivered and my whole spine tingled. Suddenly I heard a loud "Nice job kid!" from behind me. I looked up to find Timon giving me a thumbs up. Nala blushed a deep crimson and climbed from off of me. I huffed. Now was not a good time. "Um Timon, we were kinda busy!" He looked at me to Nala and from Nala to me winked and slinked off. I approached Nala. "Just ignore him, Timon is...well Timon." she just laughed nervously "I better get goin. See ya!" She gave me a tortureusly soft and quick peck on the lips and started off for home. I managed to choke out bye before stalking home to have a serious talk with Timon.<p>

NALA'S POV

He nodded. "Yes, big, big yes!" Awww, so sweet, I whispered the sole truth to him. "Well I never stopped." He looked surprised and then relieved. He nuzzled my head and I thought I heard him purr but I couldn't be sure. "Me either." Really? Even when I was supposedly dead? I smiled, it was too good to be true. I started to kiss him again and shivered slightly when I felt him tighten his grip on me. I was enjoying my enormously good luck when a loud "Nice job kid!" interrupted us. I looked behind Simba to find no other than Timon. I immediatly got up from Simba's chest and felt myself blush a deep crimson. Simba huffed. "Um Timon, we were kinda busy!" Timon looked at Simba to me and back to him. After winking, he walked off. Simba stepped closer to me and tried to make me feel less embarassed. "Just ignore him, Timon is...well Timon." I just laughed nervously "I better get goin. See ya!" I gave him a soft and fast peck on the lips before turning around and going home. What would I say to Halette? And Falo was sure to throw a hissy fit over what I had just done. I was like a daughter to them after all. When I reached home, Halette greeted me and ushered me inside. "Oh how did it go? What happened?" She motioned for me to sit down and tell her everything. So I did. Minus the part where I kinda kissed him first. "Oh that's so wonderful dear!" She clapped her hands excitedly but then turned serious. "Nala, what will your father do to that poor boy?" At that moment Falo walked in. "What will I do to who?" Uh oh.

SIMBA'S POV

"HEY! There's our cassonova!" Timon and Pumbaa greeted me and said several comments that made me blush. "Timon, why did you interupt us? She left after that!" Timon just shrugged I didn't think that a girl that was so obviously interested in you would leave!" I just rolled my eyes. I made my way to my bed and laid down. Still angry. I fell asleep dreaming of Nala and the blissful day. Well I tried to but Timon woke me up shortly after saying that he had to tell me something important. I answered him with an annoyed grunt. I was in the middle of a very pleasent dream! "Um, Simba, as your um I guess guardian, I think that I have the right to lay down some rules here." Timon was being serious? I turned to Pumbaa. He just nodded.  
>"We want to make sure you stay a good kid!" Timon thanked Pumbaa for the support then turned to me. "You sir, cannot spend the night with her. AT ALL. Nor can you go any further than kissing or cuddling." This made me roll my eyes, like I would let it get that far. I wasn't that kind of lion. I listened patientlly for Timon to finish, gave my solomn promise to follow all of them and was finally allowed to dream again.<p>

(In dream)

Nala had her paw on my chest and her head was resting just under mine. My arm was around her waist and pulled her body closer besides me. We were laying down, looking at the stars.  
>She looked at me and said those words that I coveted to hear. "I love you." I smiled and gave her a quick squeeze. "I love you too Nala." We stayed there for a while, talking about nothing and everything, sharing a soft, precious kiss every now and then.<p>

I woke up the next morning with a brilliant idea.

KUJU'S POV

Banished! Me, and Miko were banished. Just because were competent and were considered competition. Kiki and Tal were banished as well for trying to stand up for us. They followed us in silence with an occasional tear escaping their eyes. I felt horrible. Where would we go? I searched the horizon and all I saw was a barren wasteland. "Kuju." I turned around. Kiki was looking at me with sorrowful light green eyes. "We need to stop running away. Theres nothing to hunt out here, theres no water. Kuju. Please lets go back." I sighed. "Kiki, theres nothing in the Pridelands! Its dying and even if it wasn't, the moment we stepped in Prideland teritory, the hyena patrol will rip us apart! Is that what you want?" She started crying. I hated it when she did that. I put my arm around he and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry Kiki. I'm just trying to tell you that we can't go back." She buried her head in my chest. "I know Kuju, I'm sorry. I just...I'm scared." She looked up at me and I felt my heart break. I had liked her ever since Nala and Simba died in a stampede and Me, Miko, Kiki and Tal started spending all of our time together. That was a year ago. We were all growing up. Kiki and Tal had already learned how to hunt and me and Miko had our manes growing in. Mine was a medium looking brown, it went pretty well with my light brown fur if if I do say so myself. Miko and Tal running up to us broke me out of my dream land. Miko gave me a weird look. I just narrowed my eyes a little to silence what ever comment came out of him. Tal came up behind him. "Water, there's a a river a little ways off from here!" Kiki looked at Tal, smiled and then bounded off to follow Tal to the water. Miko turned to me. "Sorry dude, did we intterupt you guys?" I smiled and started to follow the girls. "Nah MIko, I like it when she's happy, besides we all need water." When we got there we found Kiki with her head in the water. I laughed and did the same. It was all going to be okay. 


	10. Chapter 10

**SORRY! I'm sorry for the super long update, I had a bad case of writer's block. (smiles and shrugs)**

**But, here you go ENJOY!**

**I don't own the Lion King, Disney does**

SCAR'S POV

I stared as the lionesses dragged a sickly antelope carcess up Pride Rock and scowled. This could not be it! We had not eaten in 4 days and all that they could find was one, skinny, sick not even adult antelope! I decided to confront Sarabi. She was not doing her job. "SARABI!" she walked ever so slowly and dignafied up to me. As if she still was queen. It made my blood boil. "Yes Scar?" I finally lost it and struck her. "That's YOUR MAJESTY TO YOU!" She laid on the floor for a while just breathing silently. The lionesses started growling but one look from Jari and they all shut up. I mentally thanked my daughter. The only sane lion in this whole pride, besides myself of course. "You are no longer my brother, Scar. I was a queen.  
>I do not need to call you majesty." She kept her voice level but I sensed the anger behind the words. I let a growl escape. "Your majesty is what I am to be called. I am king now. End of disscusion. Now, do your job correctly and get some actual food. NOT and afternoon snack!" her eyes narrowed dangerously. "There was no rain for the last 5 months Scar! Almost all of the herds have left! What do you want us to do?" I roared in her face. She didn't budge. Stubborn lioness. "Hunt. Get food. Simple." She just huffed and walked off. I turned to the scrawny carcass and started to eat. Nuka came up and tried to eat too but I knocked him down with one swipe off my paw. He whimpered and ran off calling for his mommy. He gave me a headache. Jari sat silently and I let her eat next. She had promise in her. It was coming through already. I saw her beat some hyenas and Nuka for disobeying her. It made me proud.<br>Almost.

KUJU'S POV

We had been in the jungle for 2 days. We had survived by eating fish and the occasional rat. They were HUGE here! But they bit us frequently. So we usually avoided them. Miko just jumped back at a particularly big one crossing the path and let out a girlish squeak. "Miko, its a rat. No need to go all girly!" I laughed but he rolled his eyes. "Let's just focus at the task at hand." I stopped laughing and returned my attention to the faint tracks in front of were looking for something. On our first day here, Tal said that she smelled something familiar. We all searched for the scent but neither me nor Miko could smell it. Somehow Kiki and Tal could! They held it over our heads the whole time, saying how lionesses noses were supierior than ours. But I shut them up by finding some tracks that were slightly bigger than all of ours. I considered myself an excellent tracker and told them all that I could find this other lion, or panther, or jaguar. Kiki's and Tal's exact reactions were, "You, find them? The animal you can't even smell?" then they laughed and let us go find them while they rested under a tree. They tested my patience sometimes. The tracks suddenly stopped. "Great just Great! Now what are we gonna tell the girls? Hey um we failed, you can make fun of us all you want now!" I slammed my head into the tree in front of us and immediatly regretted it. "OW!" I grabbed my head. "Well that was especially stupid." Miko said laughing. "HEY! Genius! Why did you wake me up?" We looked up and there, laying down on a branch was an annoyed, spotted cat. Despite raising their voice, they didn't seem very angry, just annoyed. "Um, who are you?" They just jumped down from the branch about 12 feet above us and observed us with amused blue, gold speckled eyes. "I think I have the right to know who you are since you DID wake me up." It was a she, the voice was that of a female and I could sense the drop of sarcasm. Her fur was a sandy color and she had dark brown, virtually black spots all over her body. She was smaller than us though, and she left small, dainty, barely there prints. "Um, excuse us but what are you?" She looked at me weird. "Haven't you ever seen a leapord before? Geez, are all lions cluless?" Wait, ALL lions? "Hold on leapord...lady. What other lions?" she just rolled her eyes "Um, Peach and Mango!" "What?" that made NO sense! Miko was confused too. "Peach, and Mango?" she huffed. "Yeah, Mango came over earlier to ask for advice." I looked at the tracks. "Those are... Mango's?" she laughed. "Yeah! You didn't think that I made them?" I just rolled my eyes. "Okay, where did they go?" she pointed in a direction and started walking that way. I followed until she hopped up unto a log that a golden lion was sitting on. He had a red short mane. When he heard us crash through the bushes, he turned and looked at us with confused amber eyes. "SIMBA!"

SIMBA'S POV

I woke up that morning with sun in my eyes, warthog, and meerkat on my stomach. They were snoring happily while Pumbaa was muttering something about grubs. I silently and carefully slid out from underneath them. I failed miserably. They both fell with a 'thump' on the ground but continued to sleep soundly. Unbelievable. If the jungle was on fire, they wouldn't know it! I walked off, yawning the whole way to the stream nearby. Nala had taught me how to fish, so I usually ate fish for breakfast. And lunch, and dinner. Don't get me wrong, I liked bugs, they were ok. But I was a growing lion, I needed more than beetles and worms. So I asked Nala to teach me. I was getting better at it but sometimes I missed. Like today. I probably missed about 4 different fish. I watched for the gleam of fish scales and right when it was next to my paw...SPLASH! YES! I caught one! I ate it while I planned my day. Nala was currently mad at me. You see, I tried to ask her out on a date, stargazing. Like a reaccuring dream I had. BUT, I kept getting nervous and running off like an idiot. Now she thought that I didn't like her anymore, even as a friend! So I planned to visit a friend of her's. A leapord named Jessikia. She would know what to do. How to get her happy with me and how to ask her out. So I set off to Jessikia's usual spot and found her sleeping, perfectly balanced on a branch. "Pssst! Jessikia! Pssst! Wake up!" She blinked a couple times and yawned.  
>"Oh, hey Mango! Watcha want?" I smiled. "Um, you know how Nala's mad at me?" She laughed a little. "Yeah, she told me something about you not liking her and running away from her."<br>I laughed nervously. "Um, yeah, Im...I...Im just nervous about asking her out. That's all! I need your help, to you know..." she laughed "Mango, just gather some of her fave flowers and explain to her why you ran away, then ask her out. Trust me." I thought about this. It was that easy? Really? "Um, thanks Jessikia. Do you know where she is?" She laid her head back down. "I think shes at the Mapola clearing." Yes! That was perfect! Nala LOVED Mapola's! I made a mental note to get the orange ones. I started running off. "THANKS JESSIKIA!" I ran as fast as I could to the clearing but didn't find her. I then checked a lake we always went to, a clump of trees covered in vines, and several other places where we usually went. All with the Mapola flowers in my mouth. She was nowhere. I finally went back to Mapola clearing and laid down on a log. Defeated. Nala would hate me now. I wouldn't be able to ask her out. Would never be able to tell her that I didn't like her. I loved her. I wasnt there long when I saw Jessikia hop up unto the log. Right after her, somebody crashed throught the bushes. I looked up. It wasn't Nala. She was always graceful. Instead, there were two male lions about the same age as me. One had brown fur and small brown mane and light brown eyes. The other had a light red mane, almost orange, and tannish fur with blue eyes. I was a bit confused until one of them yelled. "SIMBA!" It all came back to me, this was Kuju and Miko, my two best friends! "Kuju? Miko?" I laughed and tackled them both, we wrestled for a while, laughing the whole time before we calmed down enough to actually talk. "What, what are you guys doing here!" Miko became serious. "Simba, it hasn't been the same since you... Simba, everyone thinks your dead. Scar has taken over. He banished us." the smile I had faded away.  
>"I'm alive guys. But...what did you guys do?" Kuju scoffed. "Us? Yeah, we were actaully smart and big enough to be competition for Scar so he banished us. And what makes things worse,<br>he banished Kiki and Tal just because they tried to reason with him!" I couldn't believe it. Miko laughed again "But your ALIVE! Is Nala alive too?" I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah but shes mad at me right now, I can't find her." they laughed. "What did you do dude?" I rolled my eyes and was about to explain when some more people came into the clearing.

NALA'S POV

I woke up only because of Falo dropping something on the floor. I muttered something and blinked the sleep out of my eyes. There he was, picking some broken chips of wood off of the floor. "Good morning papa." He turned and hid the broken wood behind hid back. "Oh what? Oh, yes good morning Nala dear. Um, will you be going over to Simba's today?" I decided to ignore the broken object he was failing to conceal from me. "No, he...he ran away from me at least 3 times while stuttering 'go go go... nala...um um' *sigh* I dont think he wants to see me anymore." Falo just growled.. "If, you want me to do something Nala, just ask." I shook my head no and walked outside. "I'll just go think it over at Mapola clearing." He merely nodded and waved goodbye. I was walking, thinking about Simba and what I possibly did to make him...hate? NO...hate was too strong. He didn't like me. It still hurt but not as much as hate. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't hear Jessikia calling me until she waved her paw in front of my face. "NALA!" I blinked several times. "Oh, hi Jessikia."  
>she laughed. "Are ya thinkin bout Mango?" I felt heat rise to my cheeks. Jessikia had a thing for nicknaming others after foods. I was Peach, Simba was Mango. Don't ask me why.<br>"Jessikia, he hates me. He keeps running off. I'm just going to Mapola clearing to take a nap." She shook her head and wrinkled her nose. "That doesn't make sense. I thought Mango like-liked you?" I sighed and kept walking. "I guess not." She understood that I wanted to be left alone and didn't follow. I kept walking, thoughts still on 'Mango' when two cats tackled me with a loud "NALA!" I was about to shove them off and fight but two light green eyes and two dark brown eyes stopped me. They shot questions at me until I fianlly realized who they were. "Kiki?" Tal?" They laughed and we bumped heads. Apparently Scar told everyone that me and Simba were dead and took over. Hyenas were now in the pridelands and everything was dying. Scar saw Kuju and Miko were competition, deemed them dangerous, and banished them from the Pridelands. When Kiki and Tal stood up for them and tried to reason with Scar, he banished them as well. I couldn't believe this. All that happened...was was from a nightmare. Not real life. Suddenly we heard a yell and sounds of a struggle. We all took off towards the sound and found an embarressed looking Simba, an amused looking Jessikia and two other lions that I immediatly recognized as my old friends Kuju and Miko. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day laughing, telling stories and playing games that we used to play as cubs. It was a really fun day. Well, I still didn't really talk to Simba, or smile at him for that matter. When the sun started to set, Simba invited the guys to stay with him and the girls followed me back home. When Halette let us stay in a hollow nearby, Kiki immediatly exploded. "What happened between you and Simba?" I flattened my ears and blushed. "Nothing." Tal stood next to Kiki. "Really? Because he was staring at you for an eternity, like waiting...or wishing for you to look at him." This made me blush even deeper. Mabye he didn't hate me. "And you!" Kiki said after Tal finished. "You avoided his gaze all day! WHAT HAPPENED?" I sighed. "He ran away from me at least 3 or 4 times in the past week stuttering gibberish! I don't think he likes me anymore." They looked at each other. Tal finally turned to me. "Don't worry Nala. We'll get to the bottom of this.

MIKO'S POV

Simba's place was pretty decent. we stayed in grass beds that night after eating some fish and meeting Timon and Pumbaa. They were cool animals. As soon as we settled down Kuju pretty much stated the obvious. "Simba, you are seriously in love with Nala. What did you do to make her hate you?" I bit back a laugh. Simba's face turned red and turned away. "I tried to...ask her out a couple times. I just ended up running away from her. She must think I hate her or something." I coulldn't help but chuckle at this. "Simba turned to me. "It's not funny!"  
>Kuju just patted his shoulder with his paw. "Don't worry man, we'll fix this tommorow."<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

**Kinda short chapter in my opinion, but don't worry, alot's gonna happen in the next chapter! ENJOY!**

JARI'S POV

I stared as Bonsu walked up to me, visibly shaken and nervous. His dark fur clased terribly with his very light brown mane. We were gonna get married in 3 months. By then, both of us would be full grown. I groaned inwardly as he stuttered a greeting and led me away from Pride Rock. He was extremely skinny and his bones showed through his sides. His mane was thin and scraggly and not even close to full. The whole evening was a grueling experience that I managed to survive through but I didn't smile, I really didn't listen to him and gave short,  
>curt responses to all of his questions. He stuttered and bored me to death. I had half a mind to slap him, or, or to kill him even and end BOTH of our misery. I truged, yes TRUGED, into the den. It was very undignified and a little bratish but I had a good reason. I heard a low laugh and saw Zira slink out of the shadows. "If it isn't the little 'princess." She virtually spat the last word. "What do you want Zira?" I sat down and regarded her with a bored expression. "Listen you little BRAT! You are NOT worthy of the throne. YOU have issues letting go of..."<br>she laughed "certain people." I raised an eyebrow. I knew that she never liked me but she never tried anything before. "You will not make it to the throne. I promise you that." She turned and walked away. Now I knew that she was craaaazyyyy. I paid no mind to her threat and laid down to take a nap. I never realized how serious Zira was.

SIMBA'S POV

The next morning, Miko and Kuju decided that I was going to talk to Nala today. I didn't really think that it would go much better than the other times. They tried to up my confidence, made me take a looong bath, and got me a bunch of orange mapola flowers. I even had to endure a lesson on talking to girls by Kuju, which after a half hour, I finally interrupted. "If you know so much about talking to girls, than why don't you tell Kiki that you like her?" He froze up and gave me a wide-eyed look. "I...I I don't like her!" Miko almost fell over laughing and I failed to keep a straight face and then burst out laughing as well. Miko was the first to recover and actually talk. "That...That was the *laughs* the BIGGEST lie you've told all day!" it was true. None of the so called 'tips' seemed like they would actually work. Trust me. Kuju got mad. "HEY! I don't really! I DON'T!" we kept laughing. "Oh yeah? Then why did you tell me that you liked it when she was happy? Hmmm? Explain that lover-boy!" Miko got up from rolling on the floor and poked Kuju's chest with a finger. Kuju narrowed his eyes and swatted at Miko's paw. "I can't be happy for a friend? Kill me for wanting my friend to be happy!" I came up with a test. "So you don't think that her blue eyes are pretty?" he turned and rolled his eyes. "Her eyes are green, a very LIGHT green, like...like a leaf when the sun goes through it." Me and Miko became serious and gave him a skeptical look. He then realized what he just said and covered his mouth with his paws. "Yeah," Miko said while rolling his eyes. "You DEFINATLY don't like her."

NALA'S POV

The next morning, Kiki and Tal found that spring-smelling flower and decided that they would make me irresistable. They detagled some mats in my fur and Halette helped us by lining my eyes with a black tint from berries. I didn't really like all of it but they insisted. I took one look at Kiki and realized that she had a wistful look in her eyes. "Kiki, why don't we do something for you? You know, so that Kuju could finally stop admiring from afar!" She whipped her head at my direction and her face became red. "I.I I I I don't think so Nala." But Tal giggled. "Come on Kiki! We all know you like him and I saw him staring at you! Mabye this can be the push that FINALLY gets you guys together!" She lowered her head but mumbled her agreement. This earned a girlish squeal from Tal and a flurry of activity form all of us. This time, Halette got a flower that smelled like waterfalls and fresh rain. Kiki was soon gorgous and ready to go. We went to a pond that we all agreed to meet at yesterday and waited. And waited. And waited. After a looong while, the guys finally showed up in a grand display of shoving, inaudible noises, and tripping. We all giggled as they landed in a heap in front of us. Simba, who was at the bottom of the pile, looked up at me, smiled sheepishly,  
>and managed to somehow shovewriggle out of being squished. He got up, cleared his throat started to tell me something. He didn't finish though because he kept staring at me, mouth slightly open, eyes wide and subtly looking me over several times. I smiled and giggled a little bit. Did I honestly look that good? He finally realized that he was staring and managed to say something. "Um..wow. I mean...I...um...wow!" I giggled again at his failed, but cute recovery. "What's wrong Simba?" He cleared his throat again and finally said something. "Um..  
>Nala?" I batted my eyelashes as flirtaciously as I possibly could. "Yes?" "Um...I I I...I mean would you...you." at that moment he did something that I wasn't expecting. He turned and ran away. HE RAN AWAY! I growled slightly and chased after him. I was gonna get an answer to why he kept running away. TODAY! I finally caught up to him and pinned him down, like I always did. No easy task mind you, since he's grown so much, he has longer legs and stronger muscles than me. We were both breathing heavily from the chase. He looked up at me with wide amber eyes. I finally caught my breath. "Why do you keep running away? What did I do?" When he didn't answer me I got up from him and started the way back. Fine then. Don't tell me. "Wait, Nala! Wait!" I turned around and felt a hot tear roll down my cheek. I could NOT cry now! He ran up to me. "Nala, Nala please! Please don't cry!" I glared at him.<br>"Then tell me why you keep running away from me." at this he sat down and started rubbing the back of his neck with his paw. "It's just that...Your eyes! Your eyes Nala!" I sat down in front of him EXTREMELY confused. "I don't understand." He looked at me and sighed. "It's just that you have these big, blue, saphire eyes! And when ever I look at them, I get weak kneed and and butterflies in my stomach! And when you talk, or laugh, or or even GIGGLE! The same thing happens! And I can't even talk to you anymore without making a comeplete fool of myself or or spilling my guts! Like...I'm doing right now. DARN IT!" I couldn't believe it! He really thought of me that way? That was the most romantic, cute, and undeniably sweetest thing anyone ever said to me! His head was turned away, towards the ground. I finally decided what to do and pushed my head underneath his and nuzzled him. I felt him freeze up and felt his heart beat getting faster and faster every second that I nuzzled him. I giggled mentally. I couldn't believe that I did that to him.

KUJU'S POV

As soon as we heard the sound of the small waterfalls falling into a pond nearby, all three of us started to fight and shove to be the LAST out. Unfortunatly, we all tumbled out at the same time and landed in an undignified heap. I vaguely heard the girls giggling but I couldn't process it because Simba soon, shoved me and Miko off of him and we again, landed in a heap. By the time that I finally got up and cleared my spinning head, I was greeted by the most angelic sight I had ever seen. There stood Kiki, sunlight streaming unto her fur, making it shine with a goldish gleam. Her eyes were bright and the same light green that I coveted, they seemed highlighted somehow, as if the sun was making her eyes glitter more than usual.  
>I kinda noticed Simba talking to Nala but I didn't make much of it. Kiki smiled and walked over to me. "Sup Kuju!" I felt my heart get faster and faster. Beating dangerously hard.<br>Butterflies swirled in my stomach, creating a cyclone. All of my courage-filled words that morning dissapated and I found my earlier (embarassing) description of Kiki's eyes to be completely off. Her eyes were a much softer green. They were like...I DON'T KNOW! They were like nothing I've ever seen before. "H-hi Kiki. Y-you look s s stun-stunning!" She laughed and offered to play tag. She wasn't much of a girly-girl but I loved that about her. I agreed and offered to be it. It would be fun to chase her around.

SIMBA'S POV

We landed in an embarrasing heap when we entered the clearing. I heard the girls giggling. I looked up and saw Nala, Kiki, and Tal all sitting in the shade. I smiled and with whatever shred of dignity I had left I made my way out from under Miko and Kuju. I made my way to Nala and started to say something but that's when I REALLY looked at her. The sun glittered down in her fur making it appear slightly golden. Her eyes seemed to pop somehow, shining and the purest blue that I've ever seen. Her tail was flicking slightly back and forth but it was mainly wrapped around her long legs. I think I drooled. I realized that I was staring and tried to recover. "Um..wow. I mean...I...um...wow!" LAME! I failed EPICLY to cover up my staring. She giggled and I felt my already weak knees almost completely give out and my fast beating heart race faster and almost burst out of my chest. "What's wrong Simba?" Her voice seemed sweeter somehow. Like she wanted me to be comepletely in her control. "Um..Nala?" she batted her big, thick black eyelashes and made me melt further, if that was possible! "Yes?" I felt my mouth failing me again. "Um...I I I...I mean would you...you." I felt panic bubble up in my mind and the fear of rejection was a major presence at the moment.  
>I turned and ran away. I coundn't get hurt if I didn't ask Right? I kept running but she SOMEHOW caught up to me and pinned me down. I was staring up into two determined looking blue orbs. I was already breathing heavily from running, and I thanked my lucky stars that I was because my lungs failed me and I needed more oxygen than what I could get at the moment. She was the first to speak "Why do you keep running away? What did I do?" she stole my heart. She made herself the reason for me to wake up every morning. She was herself. And that was why I loved her. And couldn't put myself in the position to get hurt. She got off of me and walked away. My mind snapped to attention. "Wait, Nala! Wait!" I ran after her and when she turned around, I saw a single tear roll down her face. It broke my heart to see her cry. I didn't want to see her cry ever again! "Nala, Nala please! Please don't cry!" she glared at me "Then tell me why you keep running away from me." at this I sat down and started rubbing the back of my neck with my paw, looking for the right words. My mouth finally betrayed me again and I burst "It's just that...Your eyes! Your eyes Nala!" she sounded confused. "I don't understand." I looked at her and sighed. "It's just that you have these big, blue, saphire eyes! And when ever I look at them, I get weak kneed and and butterflies in my stomach! And when you talk, or laugh, or or even GIGGLE! The same thing happens! And I can't even talk to you anymore without making a comeplete fool of myself or or spilling my guts! Like...I'm doing right now. DARN IT!" I finally shut up. A little too late in my opinion! I felt my face get hot. I waited for her to respond, to do ANYTHING! Suddenly, her head was underneath mine and she was nuzzling me. I froze up. This wasn't happening! My heart sped faster, she had to be able to hear it! I thought that she would laugh in my face or something like that, not cuddle! "That was incredibly sweet Simba." I kinda relaxed. "Really?"<br>she laughed and her head shook a little. "Yea, it was. It really was! You are an incredibly sweet lion!" I laughed off the nervousness that I had earlier and nuzzled her back. I now thanked my mouth for not working in-sync with my brain. "So," She began pulling away, "What WERE you going to ask me?" gulp, uh oh.

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Im sorry about the long wait, but the first days of school are a bit hetic! Enjoy!**

SIMBA'S POV

I had to ask her now! She asked about earlier and I couldn't come up with anything! "I was just g-gona ask you t-t-to go...go...go...stargazing?" I managed to ask her without panicking! I waited for her answer. She pursed her lips and had an expression as if thinking it over. After several agonizing seconds she burst into a smile and laughed. "Of course! Just look for me in the Mapola clearing a little before sunset today." I laughed in relief and gasped slightly when she gave me a quick peck on the lips, making heat spread throughout my whole body,  
>just from the breif contact. She walked away, most likely to tell Kiki and Tal the news. I would have followed if a single petrifiying thought had not glued me to the very spot. She said today. TODAY! As in the same day.<p>

I kinda started to panick again but managed to make it back to the stream relatively calm. When I got there, Nala, Tal, and Miko were playing hide and seek. It was childish but we had alot of cub time to catch up on. I joined in and snuck by a counting Tal. We spent the next hour evading whoever was the seeker and laughing when ever someone was startled by another persons sneaking abilities. We never saw Kuju or Kiki until they tumbled into the clearing, Kuju pinning Kiki with a triumphant "GOTCHA!" We all laughed at Kiki's annoyed expression. They looked up and joined us, although I could have sworn that Kuju was blushing. The rest of the day was spent reminiscing and laughing at old memories. All, in all it was a good day. A little after noon, the girls announced that they promised to help Halette and Falo with something at their house and left us guys alone. Miko was the first to speak. "What is making you blush so much Kuju? Was it Kiki? Hmm?" I kinda laughed when Kuju blushed a deeper red. "Well..." I joined Miko in a spirited cheer. "TELL US! TELL US! TELL US!" we made our voices lower than usual and Miko even trough in a stray whistle! "Fine! Fine! Just calm down!" We settled down on the ground, showing that we were ready to listen. "Well... um, she offered to play tag and I offered to be it, so I counted to 5 and chased after her. She was too fast and I couldn't catch her. I finally managed to tackle her to the ground and..." The next part made me and Miko laugh.

ZAZU'S POV

I sat in my little rib cage. LITERALLY. It was a cage made of the ribs of an animal. I was forced to sing for Scar's amusement, day after day! I was NOT a singing puppet! I was the royal advisor! I gave credible and SANE advise to the king! Not to mention that I helped the king deal with the many issues of the Pridelands! But when King Mufasa, young master Simba, and dear Nala passed away, Sarabi decided that she could not rule in her husbands place and Scar took over. It was a disaster. The skies were always dark but it never rained, from what hyenas and lionesses told Scar, the Pridelands were grey, brittle, devoid of any life, dead. Dead. Scar killed the Pridelands. I watched as the lionesses who came in to try to reason with the deranged lion became skinnier and skinnier, until their ribs and other bones became clearly visible. I heard from one of them that the cubs were dying because their mother's could not eat, could not produce milk. Scar was a murderer. A murderer of the land, of the people. Of innocent little cubs! All because he let in those ever-hungry and destructive hyenas. My stomach was always rumbling and I fell sick often. I needed to find help or Scar would eventually kill EVERYTHING! One night, when everyone was asleep, I managed to slip out, thanks to the pound I probably lost from starvation. I silently flew out of the den and flew out towards the outlands. I stared in horror. Everything was true. The land was grey and barren. The only thing alive was Rafiki's tree. I swooped down. Mabye he knew of someone who could help.

"Rafiki! Please. I managed to escape, do you know of anything that I can do? Anywhere I can go?" He turned around and I noticed that he had a drawing of a full grown lion on his wall. It looked like Mufasa. He grunted and pointed. "He's alive, we must go to him, and get him to save da Pridelands! But he must be trained first." I was confused. "Mufasa's Alive?" He laughed. "No, not Mufasa. Simba. He will be all grown in several months. We have to convince him to take his place. He is in de haven. You go first. I will go shortly after. I must prepare first." I knew better than to question how he knew this. He had his ways. I nodded and wished him luck then turned towards the outlands once more. The king Mufasa knew that there might be a drought or any other danger so at the very beggining of his reign, he sent scouts out to find a safe haven. The scouts returned several days later with word of a great jungle a days journey south from here. If anyone could help us, if Simba really was alive and Rafiki wasn't just crazy, then I could find our salvation in the jungle.

NALA'S POV

After I asked him what he was going to ask me, he started to stutter again. I was afraid that he was going to run away again but he stayed. "I was just g-gona ask you t-t-to go...go...go...  
>stargazing?" That's what caused him to run away? Asking me out stargazing? I decided to play with him a little bit and pretended to be indisicive. I saw his face go to one of comeplete fear with a little horror mixed in. I couldn't do it anymore! I finally laughed. "Of course! Just look for me in the Mapola clearing a little before sunset today." He relaxed and laughed a little. I then gave him a quick peck, for no real reason and left for the river again. He didn't follow for some reason, but a little after me, Tal, and Miko starting a child's game of hide-<br>and-seek, he came in and played with us. It was like old times. Of course when I was about to find Simba, Kuju and Kiki had to tumble out into the clearing. Kuju pinned Kiki. He always managed to, no matter how many lessons I gave her. We abandoned the game of Hide-and-seek and spent the rest of the day talking about our cub days. Nobody brought up our old home's current condition because we all knew that we could never look back. Hakuna Matatah. Simba taught me that.

Finally, I noticed that Kiki wanted to tell us something private, so we told the guys we had to help Halette and Falo and left. When we were out of earshot, she burst. "He kissed me!" We all stopped in our tracks. "He did WHAT? Really!" We couldn't believe it, Kuju was always shy when it came to Kiki! We demanded the details. Apparently, they were playing tag and after a while, he finally managed to catch her, by tackling her. He kept staring at her and wouldn't get off, until she managed to free her arm and poke his chest, he merely said a soft 'wow' she poked him again and called his name. Then he reacted and gave her a lightning fast kiss. They both stayed there for a while, not doing anything, (except blush probably) until Kiki finally reached up and gave him another one, longer, of course. Then he simply turned red and whispered 'tag' and they kept going with the game. She tagged him and he tagged her when they tumbled into the clearing where we were. We all gave and undignified squeal and talked about it all night.

I realized too late that It was past sunset. SIMBA! I comepletly forgot! I ran out to the Mapola clearing to find that he was there, sleeping against the roots of a tree, orange mapolas (my favorite) next to his head. Would he forgive me for being late? I padded over silently and sat down next to him. He mumbled something and turned to lay on his back. I wasn't more than mabye a little over 30 minutes late right? I reached down and licked his cheek. He groaned and mumbled something before opening his eyes.

"Hmm? Nala? Well look who decided to show up." I winced.

"Hey, Simba!" I kinda whispered. "Look, I'm sorry, Kiki talked for a while, I made it here as fast as I could!" He just regarded me with an annoyed expression.

"Seriously?" He sat up. "I've waited forever!" I looked at the sky. There were still hues of pink and orange in the sky. I could just start to see the blue-black curtain of night. I pointed at the sky.

"I'm not that late...You must have fell asleep."

"I...oh." He looked at the sky and laughed sheepishly. Then he reached down and held out a flower. "is is or you." he said through a full mouth. He put it behind my ear and stuck it in my fur. "Where are we going?" he laughed.

"Just grab my tail and close your eyes." I raised an eyebrow but grabbed his tail with my mouth and closed my eyes. He kept saying things like 'watch out! theres a root' or 'now turn to your left a little' finally he let me open my eyes. We were at the top of a grassy hill overlooking plains and some lone tangles of trees and bushes. Spread out before me were peaches,  
>mangos, pears, and my favorite, strawberries.<p>

"Wow." I couldn't believe it. Simba smiled and laid down on his stomach next to the fruit. "It's not much but it's ok...right?" I laughed and laid down next to him, when I was at about the same level, I reached over and gave him a sof kiss on the cheek. "It's perfect."

SIMBA'S POV

I looked at Nala in slight astonishment. Kuju and Miko had laughed when I had showed them the arrangement, and here she was, saying it was perfect! I finally reached next to me and offered her a strawberry. She ate it right out of my paw and turned to the stars. "Look! That looks like a tree!" Sure enough it did. We kept pointing out shapes in the stars and eating fruits, often from each other. After a while, I looked at Nala, like REALLY looked at her. The moonlight created an almost unearthly glow on her, her eyes reflecting the tiny pinpoints of light, making the saphirre orbs glitter amazingly. Her lips were curled into a smile of amusement and amazement, but when I looked at her eyes again, I saw that certain deepness that signaled that she was thinking hard. "Is something wrong?" We were on our backs now, so I turned and proped myself up with my elbow to look down at her.

"All of those things you said before, They were extremely sweet, but they were all physical traits. Simba, do you like me just because I'm pretty?" I fell silent. She had a slight frown on her face and faced me.

"Nala, you are pretty, no Beautiful! Gorgeous! Stunning! But..." She smiled a little. It was getting harder and harder to talk to her. To actually say something that made sense, more sense than what I was feeling. "But, your extremely smart, and funny, and and understanding! Your one of the nicest people I know, your not afraid to speak your mind, you seem so sure of what's wrong and whats right, and a million more things that would take an eternity to list! Nala your beautiful, but your sooo much more." I finally stopped talking and she was crying.  
>As in actual tears flwing down her face! "Nala? Nala? What's wrong? Did I say something wro-mmm!" I didn't get to finish my sentence because the shot up and wrapped her arms around my neck and smashed her lips against mine in the most breath-taking, heart pounding, AMAZING kiss that she had ever given me. I am ashamed to say that I could not contain myself and snaked my arms around her back. We fell over, my elbow no longer holding us up, she was on bottom, me semi-on top of her. Finally, we had to breath and broke apart, savoring every last moment.<p>

"You said nothing wrong, you said everything perfect." we were breathing hard, not breathing for a whole minute does that to you, and she said that between breaths. "Really?" I had to ask that? I sounded like an idiot. She just giggled and nodded her head. "because I...Nala I...WHAT?" the whole moment was comepletly and bizzarely ruined by a feathery blue bundle dropping from the sky. It moaned. "Zazu?"


	13. Chapter 13

**It's not very good and not alot happens but here you go! ENJOY!**

NALA'S POV

I was enjoying stargazing, especially since it was with Simba! But I caught him starring at me sometimes. It arose a troubling thought. All the compliments that he gave me earlier, they were all physical traits. It kept bothering me. I was more than pretty right? I wasn't just an empty shell. I wanted Simba to like me for, well, me! "Is something wrong?" He snapped me out of my thoughts. Darn it! How did he know when something was bothering me! He was up on one elbow and was looking at me with a worried expression. It would have melted me if not for the other thought. "All of those things you said before, They were extremely sweet, but they were all physical traits. Simba, do you like me just because I'm pretty?" he went silent. After a while, he finally spoke.

"Nala, you are pretty, no Beautiful! Gorgeous! Stunning! But..." he hesitated. "But, your extremely smart, and funny, and and understanding! Your one of the nicest people I know, your not afraid to speak your mind, you seem so sure of what's wrong and whats right, and a million more things that would take an eternity to list! Nala your beautiful, but your sooo much more." I felt hot tears running down my face. He meant so much to me! "Nala? Nala? What's wrong? Did I say something wro-mmm!" I cut him off by kissing him. I tried to pour in as much passion as I could! I tried to make him feel the same absolute indescribable feeling that I felt. Apparently I succeded because he was no longer holding us up. He was holding me fiercely. "Mmm..." I almost laughed, I didn't know I did that to him!  
>We finally parted for air.<p>

"You said nothing wrong, you said everything perfect." we were breathing hard, mabye for holding our breaths, mabye not. I managed to say that between breaths. "Really?" I giggled. Was the kiss not proof enough?

"because I...Nala I...WHAT?" A blue bundle interrupted our moment. And fell with a thud on the ground.

OH COME ON! He was going to say something important! And of all the moments that Zazu could have dropped from the sky (RANDOM OK!) he had to fall right then? Simba looked at the small heap until Zazu lifted his head and blinked a couple of times. Simba finally realized the position we were in and the urgency of a bird crumpled from the impact with the ground and quickly scampered off, slipped a couple of times, and made his way towards the injured bird. "Zazu...Zazu, are you okay?" I got up and rolled him over. He was definatly too skinny, his ribs stuck out. His feathers were scraggly, damaged, and full of sand. He mumbled something and squinted his eyes as if trying to see something far away. "Mu Mu Mu Mufasa?" Then seemed to black out. "Poor Zazu." I picked him up in my mouth, gently, and started for my house. Simba followed silent. What was Zazu doing out here? Did he get banished too? Did EVERYONE end up in this place?

"Goodness Gracious! Who is this?" Halette was already getting something from some shelves. I put Zazu down on a grassy cushion. "He's an old...friend you can say...of ours." Simba was still silent and sitting motionless next to me. Halette started to put some salve on a bad sunburn of his and sent me to get some food for him. I nodded and ducked out the door. I barely fit in the den anymore! I searched for some berries, my head spinning with so many questions the whole time. What was Zazu doing here? What was Simba going to say? Was Zazu here for Simba to return? I felt a pang of homesickness. I was always going to go back but then I found Simba and he seemed so happy here. And whenever I would bring up the subject, he would change it quickly or shut up like a clam. As if he was afraid of something. And then our childhood friends came in. Banished and baring news of a dying home. One that they could never return to. So I gave up hope of ever seeing the Pridelands again. Until now. Mabye, just mabye, Zazu could be the final push, the wake-up call that brought us back to where we belonged. I kept this hope throughout the whole process of binding Zazu's multiple cuts and hand feeding him berries and slices of peaches.

"Where, am I?" He looked at all of us, as if we weren't entirely there. "Am I in heaven?" Simba finally did something, he laughed. "No, your in the jungle!" Zazu finally joined us come-  
>-pletly and gasped. "By the stars, it IS you! SIMBA!" he laughed a bit phsycotically and pointed. "You've grown so much! Just wait...Ju Jus waaii..." He seemed to faint. Halette shooed us away and motioned for Falo to make him comfortable. We both went outside and Hallette followed us. "Simba, you seem to be important to this bird..."<br>"Zazu." I finished.

"Zazu seems to be very interested in you, perhaps you can come first thing tommorow?" he simply nodded and walked off, dissapearing into the surrounding foliage.

He was back to his silent self. I knew that for him to be this serious was something really serious. If he was troubled about something, he usually got all fidgety and paced or talked endlessly until he thought that the matter was resloved. If he was deeply upset by something, then he shut himself up and became silent, almost brooding. I was about to go after him, but Tal came outside of our seperate sleeping den and called for all of the deatails of our evening. I told her, about the doubt at the beggining, the absolute flying feeling after his description, and the utter disappointment and disbelief when Zazu fell from the sky.

"Wait, Zazu's here?" Kiki asked, after I finished tallking. "Yeah." I answered. "We can all talk to him in the morning." they nodded and headed for their respective beds, me included. But I didn't fall asleep, not for a long while. I was still thinking about all that happened tonight. About the hope of returning home! I finally fell asleep, dreaming about running through the lush green fields that I remembered from my cubhood.

SIMBA'S POV

Zazu was here. All of the fears and the past that I've tried to put behind me, all of the nightmares that I endured, that I've fought all those nights came flooding back. He was here to get me to go back. He was here to bring me back home. I could NOT go back. That meant that I would have to explain why I left. What happened that day. Why my father was dead. The answer was simple. Me. I was the reason that Nala got so hurt in the stampede. I was the reason that my father was dead. And if everyone found out. They would leave. They would think that I was a murderer and they would leave me alone. They would hate me. Nala would hate me. I couldn't let that happen. I don't even want to ever think about the Pridelands anymore!  
>But Zazu came in and made all of this resurface.<p>

"Am I in heaven?" that made me laugh. It was just too funny! "No, your in the jungle!" he shook his head a little and finally looked at me with a face of surprise and joy.  
>"By the stars, it IS you! SIMBA!" he laughed crazily and pointed. "You've grown so much! Just wait...Ju Jus waaii..." He pratically fainted. Halette shooed us away and motioned for Falo to make him comfortable. We both went outside and Hallette followed us. "Simba, you seem to be important to this bird..."<br>"Zazu." Nala finished for her.

"Zazu seems to be very interested in you, perhaps you can come first thing tommorow?" I nodded and walked away. I got away from all of the questions that anyone could ask me. When I got home, I ignored all of my friends and plopped down in my usual spot. I blocked out the many voices that were trying to get my attention and focused on one thing. SLEEP. It was a long stressing, dissapointing (the Nala thing), and unbelievably surprising day. I needed the blissful peace of sleep. Eventually, the voices faded away and the world started to turn black.

"Simba! Come on!" all of my friends were at the bottom of the hill, I was on top. I ran down and watched as they go farther away. I tried to catch up and the multi-colored smudge that was them, turned into my father. He grew in size until it seemed as if I was a couple of feet in front of me. "I loved you Simba. Why do you not love me." loved. That word hurt. He looked pained. Betrayed. "I do love you dad! I do!" he stepped away. "You killed me. You don't love me. Your not my son." He stepped away and ran. I couldn't move. I called out and tried to move but I couldn't. The sky turned dark and cloudy. The grass shriveled and seemed to die before my eyes. My friends seemed to step out of the surrounding grey. Kuju, Miko, Tal,  
>and Kiki were all looking at me like if I was scum. Dirt. Nothing to them. They left. Kuju even spat at me. Nala was left. She seemed hurt and was crying. "You...your a monster!" I sstepped towards her but she lashed out, claws and all. I fell to the dirt. Hurt, more ways than one. She kept screaming murderer again and again while running away from me. "No...<br>No."

"NO!" I opened my eyes and saw Timon, Pumbaa, everyone (save the girls) in front of me. "You okay kid?" Timon took a tentative step forward. "Is everything alright?"  
>"Yeah. I'm I'm okay, I'll just go visit Zazu now." I stood up and started for Nala's place. I could hear Miko, Kuju, Timon and Pumbaa following me but they kept silent. Probably warned by my outburst and silent attitude. We got there without incident and found the girls lounging in the sun, wearing worried expressions. "Where"<br>"I'm right here." I didnt get to finish my sentence because Zazu waddled out of the entrance, wings binded with leaves, leaning slightly on Falo for support. "Simba...Thank the Kings that your alive."

ZAZU'S POV

I flew all night and all day across the barren ground, fleck of dull green passing beneath me wherever a plant managed to survive. I tensed as I reached the desert. It was rumored to be dangerous, filled with snakes and scorpions, and spontaneous sand-storms. The haven wasn't far from here, but from the sun's forst appearence, my main worry was the sun and the heat. I felt the skin underneath my skin burn with every passing minute, it was painful to flap my wings but I kept going. The wind picked up, blowing sand in my face and into my burns but no full-fledged sand storms interrupted my progress. I filled my head with thoughts of what I was doing. 'Flap...Flap...Glide.' It helped, somewhat to keep my mind from the pain.  
>I almost screamed for joy when the sun went down and the air was filled with cool breezes and scents of fruits. The haven was near! I finally noticed a dark smudge up ahead but I felt my wings weaken and my vision get fuzzy. NO! I COULD NOT FAIL NOW! I tried and tried but I felt my body falling, falling then a hard suface knock all of the air out of me. I felt light-headed then saw a golden-furred red-maned lion. He looked like Mufasa. "Mu Mu Mu Mufasa?" The world went black.<p>

I awoke to some food being pushed into my mouth. I eagerly opened my beak and accepted the fruit. FOOD! Water followed shortly after. This continued for a while. I didn't question what was happening until the surrounding people came into focus. "Where, am I?" I looked at everyone but they were a bit fuzzy and transparent."Am I in heaven?" Someone laughed at me. "No, your in the jungle!" Everything came into focus and I saw an almost carbon copy of Mufasa! His voice was different and he was a bit smaller. "By the stars, it IS you! SIMBA!" I laughed and pointed he was alive! "You've grown so much! Just wait...Ju Jus waaii..." the world went black agin. COME ON!

I woke up again with my burns soothed and my stomach filled. An otter was next to me, ready with some water. It turns out that his name was Falo and he was here to help. He said nothing more but helped me up and lead me out the door. I was greeted by a clearing full of lions and lionesses, and other animals. "I'm right here." Everyone's eyes turned to me.  
>"Simba...Thank the Kings that your alive."<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

KUJU'S POV

That morning was full of drama! Zazu, the former major domo apparently fell out of the sky last night. He needed to talk to us and asked that we all meet together in the morning. I for one was freaked out. What was he doing here? I thought he was trapped in a rib cage inside of Scar's private quarters! He was skinny and I noticed that some of his feathers were missing. What happened? What did he want to talk to us about. That was the number one question going through all of our minds as we sat down around an old friend.

ZAZU'S POV

I watched silently as everyone settled down around me. And I watched in amusement as Simba tried to sit next to Nala without sitting too close. Goodness, did he really think that everyone didn't know? But I shook the thought out of my head and turned my attention to the problem at hand.

"Simba, you don't know how reliveing it is to find you alive! Everyone believes your dead!" His eyes were on the ground.

"They do?"

"Yes. Everyone thinks your dead, Scar told us about you, and Nala's, and Mufasa's death. Please tell me that Mufasa's alive as well!" I saw a tear drop down his cheek.

"No. No he's not. I I I I saw his body. It was lifeless." I dropped my head in reverance to the deceased king but I had no more tears to shed.

"You do realize that you have to go back. You must take your rightful place."

"No. I don't have to, I'm not that Simba anymore."

"Of course you are! You have no idea what everyone has gone through! How many creatures have died!" He stood up and started to walk away.

"Simba, he has killed cubs. He is slowly killing the WHOLE PRIDE. Even your mother." He stopped in his tracks.

"Cubs? The pride? Mom?" It was hardly a whisper.

"Simba. You have to go back." He finally looked back.

"When?"

"In three months time. Then you will be close to your full size and I would have been able to teach you fighting tactics and how to rule." He seemed hesitant but sat back down.

"Alright. I'll do it."

SIMBA'S POV

Everyone started to automatically sit down in a circle around him. I almost sat close to Nala but then realized what I said the day of the graveyard. 'Yuck!' you can quote me. He would never let me live it down. I settled for close by her, just enough for the automatic calming sensation to kick in. It happened whenever I was around her.

"Simba, you don't know how reliveing it is to find you alive! Everyone believes your dead!" Yup, I was officially dead and gone from the painful monarchy picture.

"They do?"

"Yes. Everyone thinks your dead, Scar told us about you, and Nala's, and Mufasa's death. Please tell me that Mufasa's alive as well!" Why did he have to torture me like this? A tear escaped and rolled down my cheek.

"No. No he's not. I I I I saw his body. It was lifeless." My head burned with the memory and my heart ached for my dad.

"You do realize that you have to go back. You must take your rightful place."

"No. I don't have to, I'm not that Simba anymore." I could no go back! It was too hard. It was my past. I put it behind me.

"Of course you are! You have no idea what everyone has gone through! How many creatures have died!" They were none of my concern Scar was king now. They could take it up with him.

"Simba, he has killed cubs. He is slowly killing the WHOLE PRIDE. Even your mother." Scar did all that? Cubs? As in little kids? And my mom as well? How bad were things? How bad was my uncle?

"Cubs? The pride? Mom?" It was hardly a whisper.

"Simba. You have to go back." I realized that I did care about the others. It was my mistake, not theirs. But they were paying for it. With their lives.

"When?" I would worry about the truth later.

"In three months time. Then you will be close to your full size and I would have been able to teach you fighting tactics and how to rule." My Hakuna Matatah was slipping through my paws. Three months of classes and training. Yippee.  
>"Alright. I'll do it."<p>

Zazu grinned and yawned.  
>"We start tommorow. I have to rest first. Good day everyone." There were several quiet goodbyes but the only real sound was our breathing.<p>

"Simba? Are you okay?" It was Tal. It was then that I realized that I was breathing heavily and that more hot tears were running down my face. I was terrified. I looked up and everyone was looking at me. "Simba, please, are you okay?" Nala was looking at me with a worried expression. I couldn't take it! Not all of them at once!

I got up and ran away. I needed to get away from their questioning looks. From their pity and curiousity! So I ran, narrowly avoiding trees and boulders, splashing through shallow ponds and puddles. I finally stopped when I reached a small lake with several small waterfalls dripping into it. The only sound was the rushing water and some buzzing bugs. I collapsed on the ground and stared at the water until it turned fuzzy and my eyes burned. Then blinked and repeated the process. It was mindless and boring, but it kept me occupied. I don't know how long I stayed like that. The minutes and hours melted together into one big blob. I only woke up when the bushes behind me rustled and parted. I didn't even have to look to know who it was. She always seemed to find me. Nala walked up to me and sat down.

"You know if you stare at the waterfalls long enough, they look like blue trees." I looked up at her. Her head was tiltled almost comepletly to one side, her eyes vauguely crossed. I laughed in spite of myself.

"You always notice what other's don't." she laughed and laid down next to me.

"They would see it too, if they looked hard enough." She turned to look at the water below.

"What do you see Simba?" I looked down and saw our reflections. Two lions, staring at themselves, trying to pretend that nothings wrong.

"I see me and you." I answered. Not really knowing what she was getting at.

"I see Simba, my best friend in the whole world. Simba, who always wants to try new things, who loves adventure, and who can always find a bright side to things. ALWAYS. I see someone who is extremely smart and resilient. I see a lion who can take anything you throw at him. Including..." Was she going to mention Scar? Was that why she found me? It was the last thing I wanted to hear.

"Including a comepletly insane lioness who will NEVER leave him alone. No matter what. And I mean it Simba. I will never leave you alone. I will be here every step of the way. That's a promise." She just promised that she will never leave. Regardless of what happened. It was all I needed.

"Thank you." She smiled and nuzzled me.

"Never forget it. Now I'm going to get some sleep, how about you?" She started to sit up, but my voice stopped her.

"Please don't go." She laid back down, this time, resting against my side.

"I promised, didn't I?"

NALA'S POV

I forgot when we fell asleep but I know when I woke up. I opened my eyes and saw some bushes and trees. Light streaming faintly through. I tried to move slightly but I couldn't. I looked down and saw two arms, wrapped tightly around me. Last night came flooding back. Simba stormed away after Zazu went back to sleep. We all tried to find him all day, but no luck. Everyone gave up when the sun started to set but I thought of one last place he could be. Sure enough I found him near the edge of a pond. We talked for a little. I promised him that I would never leave and I meant it too. He wanted to stay where we were though and I kept my promise. We must have fallen asleep at one point. I squirmed and twisted carefully until my head ended up in his short mane. It was soft and radiated his scent. Not to musky but just enough. His heart and breathing were slow and steady. He was still asleep. I buried my head in his neck and fell asleep once again. I didn't mind that we ended up like this at all. It seemed natural.

I woke up again when someone whispered a curse. I felt a fast beating sound coming from in front of me. Simba! He was awake! He tried to unwrap his arms without waking me. And failed miseably. He ended up tickling my stomach. A giggle escaped and he froze up.

"Nala? You awake?" it was a faint whisper.

"Yeah."

He tried to move again but slipped and ended up falling on top of me.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to to hold you or or fall!" He tried again but fell backwards this time. I just laughed and sat up.

"I didn't really mind. I mean! I know how long yesterday was. And...and." It was a little awkward. I sighed in frustration and laid back down next to a tree. I needed to learn how to not sound wierd or awkward. He stepped over to me and laid down.

"I *cough* um actually meant to um...hold you. I just needed you close after yesterday." I smiled and leaned into him, feeling his heart speed up incredibly fast.

"I understand. And feel free to do so at any time." I nuzzled his neck and heard him purr. He was purring? Was he that happy? I pushed his shoulder so that he was on his side and pushed myself into his arms, and nuzzled his neck once again. I hoped he didn't think that I was weird.

"Um, Nala? Wasn't I supposed to go to Zazu today for some lessons?" Darn it!

"Um, yeah you were." I started to get up but he tightned his grip around my back.

""Well, he can wait right?" he had such a shy expression on his face that I laughed and settled against his chest once again. He started purring again. It was deep and it rumbled in such a soothing way that I found myself purring too. He chuckled a little bit and licked the rim of my ear before pressing me closer. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but he eventually sighed.

"I really have to go now. Sadly. But come back here later okay? Please!" He walked away and I stayed there. Replaying the wonderful moment again and again.


	15. Chapter 15

Alright, this takes place after all of the lessons. I was thinking of adding a story, strictly humorous and serious pieces of the lessons, but you will have to PM me or say that you would like to read it in your review that you (as a nice and thoughtful reader) will graciously give me. (smiles sweetly)

Enjoy!2

SIMBA'S POV

I swiped with my left paw and ducked and incoming one, claws extended. I dived in between their legs and pushed them over on their back, I quickly pounced on top of them and pinned them down, teeth bared and a deep growl emmiting from my throat.

"Ow! Dude too hard!" Kuju complained. I got up and he rubbed his shoulder.

"Sorry." I apologized while helping him up and ignoring the giggles coming from our audience. Zazu landed on my shoulder, pushing away some mane (it was almost full now!) that was in his way.

"That stength will come in handy when fighting, but please, take it easy. We need Kuju well and uninjured for tommorow." Yep My lessons were over. The last three months were full of lessons in diplomacy and fighting. I had developed some nice muscle (if i do say so myself) and my mane was now virtually as big as it was gonna get. After talking about it again and again, and a surprise visit from Rafiki when I got discouraged (long story) we settled on tommorow for storming PrideRock and challenging my deranged uncle Scar. Needless to say, I was scared silly. We had been practicing our moves for most of the day. And I (embarrasingly) found out that, despite my larger size and supierior strength, I could not pin Nala.  
>Not by a long shot.<p>

"Simba!" Nala's voice yanked me back to the present.

"Huh?" I turned to face her. She was sitting several yards away, in a sunny spot, regarding me with an amused expression. I inhaled quickly. She was breathtaking. She had grown to her full size, training had toned her body to a ridiculously perfect point. She was long and sleek. Her coat was still that entrancing cream color and her eyes were, dare I say it, even brighter than they were before. A deeper more mysterious blue. The sun seemed to make her glow even.

"EARTH TO SIMBA!" She was now a couple of feet away, waving a paw in front of my face.

"Um yeah! Yeah! What?" I felt a blush appear on my cheek. It never got any easier to go through these moments. I had known her for my whole freakin' life and I was still a novice!

"Do you need a break or can you fight me right now?" she laughed the entire statement.

"A break? You insult me my dear Nala. BRING IT ON!" I backed up a few feet, bring a paw to my chest, acting miffed. She grinned an evil grin and immediatly pounced. I threw her off before she could properly pin me and we tussled for a bit before I ended up on my back, staring up at an overly confident, incredibly infuriating, and unbelievably captivating Nala.

"COME ON!" I yelled as everyone else laughed. Nala got off of me with a giggle and sat down nearby.

"You can pin down Kuju but not a simple lioness?"

"Whatever." I huffed settling in some shade. A ways off from Nala, trying to hide the crimson in my cheeks. Zazu was in front of me, holding his side, laughing his little bannana beak off.

"Knock it off!"

He stopped laughing but still bit his lip trying not to laugh. It was the second time today that this happened. Mental note. Never, EVER challange Nala again.

"Ahem, well, as entertaining as that was, we have to go over are strategy. Jessikia? Go and get William!" Jessikia nodded and dissapeared silently but quickly into the bushes. Iheaded towards Zazu and sat down.

"You sure we can trust him?" William was the mysterious friend of Jessikia. I had only seen him twice in this entire time and then he only hung around Jessikia and gave short answers to everything. Although he was a pretty good fighter. Zazu turned to me before drawing a diagram in the dirt.

"You trust Jessikia, correct?"

"Well, yeah."

"And she says that he is trustworthy correct?"

"Yeeeaahh."

"So why are you so nervous? He is willing to help, we cannot turn down another able fighter."

"Ok then. We trust a comeplete stranger to help us retake our home."

That earned me a good stare from Zazu.

"I-"

"Think that Simba is a bit on edge because of tommorow? So do I. Now please continue with your illustration of the battle plan, we need your expertise on the matter and your excellent explanation skills so that nothing goes without a hitch." Saved by Nala. Goodness, what would I do without her?

"Quite Miss Nala, Quite." He turned back to his drawing and Nala gestured towards the others. I did not hesitate to follow.

"Geez Simba, do ya have to push Zazu's buttons?"

"Hey! If I don't who will?"

"I dunno but you kinda push everyone's buttons."

I growled at Miko before jumping up and wrestling him. He pushed on my shoulder, bringing me down but I pushed his chest, pushing him away. After some more wrestling, we ended up squashed under Kuju.

"Hey!"

"Get off!"

I pushed him off, all the while laughing. I finally turned to the girls who I noticed were covered with dirt. And not looking very happy. Kiki even growled. Gulp.

"Oh. Um. Sorry?" Miko offered looking sheepish. No one spoke. No one moved. Finally, the girls burst into laughter.

"You...Were all like "Oh sorry?" and *laughs* your face! Ha ha!" Tal shrieked, she was the only one who could speak. They were all gasping for air while gripping their sides. That was it.

"Oh, so you think this is funny?" I said advancing slowly. Nala laughed and pointed at me.

"Pretty much!" I jumped the remaining distance and started attacking her sides with my fingers. Then her laughter got so hard, she started to cry.

"NO! NO! STOP! I CAN'T TAKE IT! HA HA HA!" I continued my relentless attack. That is until I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned to see an amused William,  
>Jessikia, Zazu, and Rafiki. Who was apparently back from collecting emergency medical herbs. I stood from my position over a still giggling Nala and attempted to put on a serious face.<p>

"Yeah, um lets start." I felt the red creeping into my face. Why did I have to blush so much?

"Alright then, gather 'round everyone!" Zazu motioned for us to sit around the drawing he made.

"Simba, Tal, and Miko will come from the west and sneak in through the back."

"That won't work." William interrupted, in his aggravating accent. Kinda like Zazu's.

"They put a troop of about ten hyenas guarding the back. Apparently, some lionesses had been sneaking off to escape that way."

"And how do you know that?" Where was he getting his information?

"I know that because I was there yesterday! I went to scout in advance. Just in case." Oh.

"Fine, but you could have told us. Or you could have scouted when we go there tommorow!" It was a lame and desperate attempt to sound in charge.

"You would have to find a way to get past them unnoticed or take care of them silently. It's not very noisy there. Well, save the occasional screams." Just peachy.

"Do they ever change gaurds?"

"I'm not sure. But if they do, just slip by when they are. If they don't, then come in through the north, its a steep climb up the side but there are some smaller formations you can hide behind. Just sneak through."

"Pefect!" Zazu piped up. "We can do just that. Now, Nala, Kuju, and Kiki will come from the east and-"

"What! You can't send them that way! They'll be spotted immediatly against the grey! They'll be be be killed!" I couldn't help it! That was the worst plan ever!

"Simba! Calm down, they'll be fine. They are our fastest runners! And they are brilliant fighters. Besides, the lionesses will recognize them from farther away then the hyenas will." I still didn't like the idea. Nala, sent virtually alone right into the face of that hyena infested rat-hole. What was wrong in Zazu's head?

"Finally, William, Jessikia, and Rafiki shall come from the south. We will all fight and kill as many hyenas as possible. Simba, you will look for Scar and challenge him. If he refuses, he will have to step down. It's the royal law."

"And who said he abides by the law?" Miko had a point.

"No one did. But the lionesses and all of us will be there to make sure nothing bad happens." Nala said reassuringly, briefly placing her paw on mine, then taking it away. We still had not told Zazu and Rafiki we were together. We weren't actually together really, we only went on three dates total! Well, and we ended up sleeping together, (Not in the way your probably thinking!) the memory was still fresh in my mind.

Three months earlier...

She was asleep. At least I think she was. Her breathing was steady and her eyes were closed. She had turned a little so that she had her back pressed into my side. My heart picked up speed as if I had been chasing after a gazelle when a thought entered my mind.

Hold her

What? That wasn't right. I mean...it did sound like a nice idea.

Hold her!

But she wouldn't like it. Would she? I knew that I wanted too. But what would she say if she woke up?

Just do it.

I reached out an arm and stopped myself when my paw was hovering close to her side. Could I really do it? I shook my head to clear my thoughts and swallowed in a vain attempt to get some saliva in my mouth.

DO IT!

SHUT UP VOICE! I sighed and let my arm drop softly the rest of the way. Nala sighed slightly. I rolled so that her shoulders pressed against my chest and pressed my nose against the top of her head. I breathed in her scent. She smelled like a meadow, no like the jungle during spring! When all of the flowers were open and blooming. And she was just as beautiful.  
>And she was incredibly soft. Impossibly so! Her steady breathing eventually calmed my heart down and my eyelids drooped with her warmth. Eventually the world faded to black, and I had no dreams that night. Mabye because I was living a dream.<p>

And then I woke up.

Nala's face was pressed under my chin, buried in my neck. I muttered some words that would have offended most mothers. I fell asleep! My heart raced again. Did she notice? Or did she roll over in her sleep? I tried to unwrap my arms. Mabye I could pretend this never happened. But she giggled when my paw dragged lightly against her stomach.

"Nala? You awake?" it was a faint whisper.

"Yeah." she whispered back.

I tried to move again but slipped and ended up falling on top of her, my muzzle dangrously close to her neck. AHH!

"Sorry! I didn't mean to to hold you or or fall!" Well that was smart to say! I tried to move again but fell backwards this time. Nala laughed and sat up.

"I didn't really mind. I mean! I know how long yesterday was. And...and." She didnt? Really? A huge smile burst onto my face. I followed her to the shade of a tree. The sun was just starting to rise

"I *cough* um actually meant to um...hold you. I just needed you close after yesterday." she smiled and pressed her herself to my side. My heart sped again. At this rate, it would burst real soon.

"I understand. And feel free to do so at any time." she nuzzled my neck and a purr escaped before I could stop it. She pulled away only to push me over. I fell with a slight yelp. She nuzzled into me again and I felt myslef go tingly all over. She started to purr too! But then my mouth betrayed me once more.

"Um, Nala? Wasn't I supposed to go to Zazu today for some lessons?" I clamped my mouth shut too late.

"Um, yeah you were." she started to get up but I tightened my grip around her back. I was not going to give up so easily.

"Well, he can wait right?" I felt a blush coming on. But she laughed and pressed closer to me. I started to purr again. I was happy! Can you blame a guy? She purred again. I laughed slightly and found some courage. I licked her ear. I can't believe I did that! But she didn't seem to mind. We stayed there forever until the sun seemed to be in full blaze. Zazu would come looking for me soon. And this was not exactly very explainable.

"I really have to go now. Sadly. But come back here later okay? Please!" I walked away to my first lesson. But I couldn't go back to the pond. Kuju came to watch our lessons and stayed the whole time. I ended up following him home. I never spent the night with Nala again.

Present...

And now we just finished discussing a battle plan in where I would have no clue if she was fine or not! It worried me alot. But I shut up and listened to Zazu explain the techniques of a challenge again. We even practiced fighting the rest of the day. I was exausted by sunset. And to top it all off I had to face my Uncle tommorow who had a hyena army at his disposal tommorow! Not to mention my past!

"Are you okay?" Nala was next to me. I had escaped to the pond again. Zazu was probably freaking out right now.

"Yeah. I'm I'm fine." Could I fool her?

"Liar. Tell me. You can trust me!" Nope. Dang.

"I can't..." Okay now! Now I would tell her.

"Can't what? Simba, if this is about tommorow, DO NOT WORRY. Everything's gonna be fine. Scar doesn't stand a chance!" Okay, so I could take him. I knew that much.

"What about you? Your just gonna charge the enitire hyena army?"

"No, I'm gonna try to be as sneaky as possible, then if I do get caught, I kick some hyena tail. The lionesses will realize that something's up and help. I. Will. Be. Fine."

"But there's too much room for error! What if-"

She reached up and gave me a kiss where my lips met my cheek. I sent a shiver down my spine. She hadn't kissed me in over three months.

"Just relax okay?" she whispered into my ear. Then she nuzzled underneath my chin. SHE EXPECTED ME TO RELAX? After what she just did?

She pressed her ear to my chest. OH NO! My heart! I tried in vain to slow it down.

"Do you think Zazu would mind if we dissapeared tonight?" She whispered, a small smile on her face.

"I hope not." I answered laughing slightly before laying down. She layed down next to me. That night, she slept in my arms, I licked her ears and the top of her head every once in a while.  
>She had comepletly turned the conversation around and calmed me down. I fell asleep easily.<p>

"Dis is where he dissapered to?" I blinked groggily at the far off sounding voice. I yawned but the top of Nala's head stopped me. I smiled and licked her head to wake her up before actually looking up and seeing well, everyone. Timon was tapping his foot on top of Pumbaa's head and Falo was glaring daggers. HOLY CRAP! I rushed to get up, which resulted in slipping up and falling on top of an annoyed Nala, this time, my head hovering less than an inch above her jaw! I think Falo growled.

"What's going on Simbaaa...oh god!" This time she shoved me off and gave a yelp of pain when I tugged her tail. Our tails were tangled, just great!

"Care to explain?" Zazu said he too tapping his foot.

"Well, um see I had um and Nala was just uh...uh." Then they all started to laugh. Well except Falo. He was still trying to kill me by staring me down. I found nothing funny about this.  
>My face was so red and hot right now, I was surprised it didn't burst!<p>

"Did you really *gasp* think we didn't know Simba?" Zazu said inbetween laughs.

"You had your head in de clouds wheneva you looked at her dis whole time!" Rafiki said jumping down from his tree.

I crossed my paws sheepishly. They continued to laugh and eventually calmed down. We ate some fish and berries for breakfast, although I kept a good distance from Nala and Falo.  
>The rest of the day was kept in a light and friendly tone. At me and Nala's expense. They kept making jokes. Many of which I would never repeat!<br>Rafiki was leading the way, at least, pointing which way to go from the tree tops. Finally, after a good 3 hours, we finally made it to the edge of the jungle, where the trees were small and rich soil and cool dirt gave way to dry and hot sand. We all stopped walking as soon as we touched the sand. All afraid of taking another step. I swallowed hard and started to walk out. Already starting to feel the sun on my back, the sand already starting to get in between my toes. But I walked because someone had to lead. And I was the King. Or future king anyways.  
>I heard hesitant paws padding over the sand behind me and I had to keep from smiling. My friends were always there. Whatever I had thrown at them, they had stayed there. Now if they would stay through the Hell we were entering.<p>

Please Review or PM me about the other story!


	16. Chapter 16

**Really sorry for the long update. I had writer's block and school work so yeaahhh. Its long so please have patience. If your wondering why William opens up is because he thinks of Simba as a good leader and person, animal, whatever. Someone he can tell things to. So enjoy!**

NALA'S POV

You know how the desert is hot? How they always tell you that its usually over 100 degrees. Well its much, much worse. The sun is like an evil villan. Laughing and taunting you as you burn and bake under its relentless heat. It hammers down on your skin, making it dry up and burn, itch, sting. Then you add sand. Who knew that the smallest of grains, those teeny-tiny little rocks, could cause so much misery. It got stuck on the afore mentioned sunburns and made them even more painful. It got inbetween your toes and whenever you shook it out, it goes right back in. If you weren't careful, it would get in your eyes and make them tear up, make your eyes burn and itch. Basically, the desert was one big hot ball of itchy, burning torture.

And for some reason, Rafiki insisted that he had to slow our progress and lengthen our time in mentioned hell by stopping every 10 minutes to check our course.

"Hold on! One moment please!" Rafiki shouted. Taking out a little circle ring crisscrossed with small strings inside. He fingered some strings and muttered some foriegn words.

"Rafiki...Come on." Simba was shaking some sand out of his mane. He looked very all did. Tal walked over to me.

"If he keeps doing this, I might just be inclined to hurt him." She whispered, tapping her extended claws menacingly on the sand. It didn't work for two reasons. One, she was usually such a nice and sweet and quiet person that menacing didn't work for her, and two, because her claws just sank inside of the dune.

"Nala, why couldn't we just follow the river out into the outlands instead of crossing the desert?" Kiki was now on my other side, smacking her lips slightly. We were only out here for about 5 or 6 hours and we were all thirsty and hot beyond reason. I sighed.

"Well seeing as somebody forgot which river and how long they followed it, the day long trip through the desert and to the outlands was our only option." It came out a little more mean than I meant it to but I was out of patience. Kiki flattened her ears a little and whispered a soft 'sorry'.

"No, I'm sorry Kiki, I didn't mean to lash out." I attempted to make amends quickly. Kiki wasn't usually easily fazed or offended. She had a strong character and quick toungue. For her to be so easily quieted, was a sign that she was as tired of this as I was. She looked at me with a soft smile.

"No prob."

"Dis way!" Rafiki yelled again, only to start off in the same direction we were going in. I growled slightly and followed, forgetting the embarassment of the morning and walking next to Simba.

"How much longer do you think we'll be walking?" I kept my voice low so that Rafiki wouldn't hear me and start off on a long explanation of the sun's progress and our own, as he did the previous time someone asked. It was a mistake. Kuju, intent on milking every blush he could out of me and Simba, immediatly spoke up.

"Woah! No secrets kiddos! We all know what happened last time there was one!" Earlier, this would have earned him a laugh from everyone. Now, when the sun was setting and the outlands still nowhere in sight, it just earned him an annoyed glare from Simba and a irratated sigh from Hallette. Much to my dismay, her and Falo refused to let their 'little girl'  
>trek the desert and take on a tryrannical king with a hyena army alone. They tagged along, Falo carrying a wooden spear that he had formed for protection purposes (oddly enough,<br>before he stated he was coming) and Hallette carrying a small sack with some food. Timon and Pumbaa came with us too. Their motives unknown.

"AHA!" Rafiki shouted at the top of the dune that we were climbing, earning a startled "What!" from Miko.

"De outlands! About an hours walk from ere! We can stop dere for the night."

"For the night!" cried Jessikia. "I thought we were getting to the Pridelands today!" she sounded angry but when I turned to look at her, she was leaning on William, obviously exhausted.  
>I could have sworn I saw William blush, but I wasn't sure.<p>

"Well, sorry to keep you waiting. We will stop in the outlands for the night. Wherever we can find shelter." Simba said, attempting to climb the steep dune but sliding down. He finally reached the top after several times. The girls (me included) weighed less and made it up fairly easily. We watched as Miko and Kuju scrambled up and rolled down the slippery side.  
>Kiki giggled.<p>

"What's wrong Kuju? Can't climb a hill?" she shouted down, enjoying taunting him. But her joy was shortlived. With a low growl, he bounded up the dune, tackled Kiki and sent them tumbling down the other side.

"Ahh! *cough* Kuju!" Kiki was pinned under Kuju's body and was coughing up some sand. He was laughing it up.

"What was that about me not being able to climb up? Hmm?" he was still laying down on top of her and looking down with a smug smile.

"That you can't climb a hill without being a complete klutz!" She shoved him off and shook off the excess sand. The rest of us laughed and slid down. Miko had made it up more gracefully than Kuju and Jessikia and William had made it up easily. The rest of the trip was spent in silence. That is until we reached the Outlands. Immediatly, Rafiki took out his little hoop again.

Simba finally snapped.

"Rafiki! Do you HAVE to do that right now? The sun is almost down, we have to find a place to rest!" He took a couple steps toward the mandrill before stopping and lifting his left front paw, it was the first time I noticed that it was bleeding. Little drops of crimson dripped from his toes and created a small puddle. How had I not noticed this before? I jogged up and examined the injury.

"How could I have missed this?" I muttered under my breath. But it still wasn't enough.

"Nala, this only happened a couple of minutes ago." Simba was looking at me with a weird smile, it looked like a mix of amusement and pain.

"Oh, but still. How did this happen?" I lifted it with my own and noticed several nasty thorns.

"I stepped on a thorn bush."

"Oh, well as soon as we stop, Hallette can help, but for now..." I bended over and gripped a thorn with my teeth. "Is mi ing a ittle." and with a swift movement, yanked out a thorn. Simba winced slightly.

"Yup, it stings." He said enduring the small torture through the other 4 thorns. By the time I finished, Rafiki had put away his little hoop and was waiting for us farther ahead.

"Patience Simba, I was finding a place to stay." He chuckled and walked away, leading the group and leaving an embarrased Simba at the back of the party. I laughed and followed the others.

"He's right you know, you could work on your patience." I heard him scoff and attempt to catch up to me with three paws.

"I do not!"

"Do too. Simba. Do too." And just like that he rolled his eyes and dropped the subject. Good thing too because soon, the sun dropped comepletly over the horizon, making everything hard to see. Somehow, Rafiki saw just fine and led us to a small cave opening. It looked like It could barely fit Hallette and Falo. Did he really think we would all fit?

"Ummmm, Rafiki? How are we all going to fit?" Miko asked, voicing everyone's thoughts. Rafiki started to laugh and bended over to look inside the hole.

"Everything is not what it seems." And with that , he crawled inside a dissapeared.

"No way!" Kuju whispered excitedly, and squeezed in after him. "Guys!" he shouted from inside, his voice sounding far off and echoey. "You gotta see this!" Everyone seemed skeptical but we followed suit, and as soon as we squeezed through, the seemingly small space opened up into a big, underground cavern, filled with smaller caves inside, the whole thing was lined with small crystals, water dripped from spikes in the ceiling, creating small puddles and the whole place was cool, a sweet relief from the desert heat. The whole party was speechless. That is until we came to our senses and dunked our heads into any nearby puddle. After a looong drink, we finally turned our attention to a waiting Rafiki.

"Here we are, just find a place to lay down evyone!" Rafiki was at the bottom of a pile of rocks that led to one of the small caves. He bounded up the pile and rested in a small hole. Jessikia attempted to jump up to another one high up but slipped down.

"Forget it. I'm *yawn* too tired." She opted instead for one just a couple of feet off the ground. William, after glancing at the cave she dissapeared into several times, just collapsed on the ground in a heap, muttering several words and letting out a long sigh. Tal settled inside one close-by and Miko, seeming at war with himself for several moments, groaned and settled underneath a small overhang to the right. Hallette and Falo, Timon and Pumbaa, and even Zazu, who had been riding on top of Pumbaa this whole time, settled in without a problem. Kuju, who had still not admitted his feelings to Kiki (despite their constant flirting) followed Kiki's silhouette with his eyes and let out a wistful sigh as she found a spot to our left. He followed and settled into the hovel next to her. Simba and me were left outside. He took one glance at Williams crumpled form and turned to me.

"Go on ahead. I'll be there in a second." he whispered in my ear. I nodded and climbed the rocks and found an empty, dry cave. I slumped against the wall and let out a long sigh. Such a long day. With several more breaths, the world faded out into black.

SIMBA'S POV

I sent Nala to sleep. No use for her to lose any more sleep over this. I padded over to where William was laying down and layed down a couple feet away. I licked my paw absentmindedly to clear the small blood still there. I was stupid enough to stare at Nala and her worry ridden face for too long and stepped on a thorn bush. It hurt but I guess that what I get for being my distractable self. Now I watched as William stared at a cluster of crystals, probably thinking about Jessikia. We sat in silence for a little bit before a thought popped into my brain.

"When Zazu was going over our plan yesterday, you said that you were at the Pridelands the day before. How?" My voice echoed slightly in the cavern and it was several seconds before he let out a sigh.

"I used a series of tunnels underground, they must have belonged to meerkats before, or gophers, and they lead straight to the Pridelands. My parents...they showed me them a long time ago, I really never had to use them until Jessikia told me about you and your Uncle and the absolutely atrocious things that were happening. At first I didn't want to help, but she wanted to help you so I agreed."

"If you didn't want to help, you didn't have to. It is dangerous."

He laughed. "Me and Jessikia go back a long way, to when we were cubs and after an accident, we..." He took a deep breath, as if it was hard for him to go on. "We fled through those tunnels, I don't know how long it took but we ended up in the Pridelands. We never found our parents again. She's all I have Simba. I would do anything for her."  
>He put his head down again and I saw a tear roll down his cheek.<p>

"But why-"

"Lions don't fit. There was barely enough room for me to get through. You guys can't use them. Besides, even if you did fit..."

"Yes?"

"Nothing it's just...Jessikia would have had a hard time going through those tunnels. I don't want her to go through that again." He looked away, towards the far cave wall.

"Okay, that explains alot, pretty much everything, except...why your here right now, when you should be in there." I motioned with my head towards the cave where Jessikia dissapeared in. His body stiffened up but he didn't face me.

"You really love her, don't you?" I whispered. He whipped his head around and started to stutter. Comepletely caught off gaurd by question.

"I uh uh uh uh d-d-d-don't kn-kn-know what your talking about!" he finally gained his compusure and looked away.

"Uh huh. Just know this, it doesn't help keeping it a secret, don't wanna end up like Kuju." with that, I walked away towards a sleeping Nala. I really didn't care if Falo threatened to use his spear on me. I needed her after today. And what was coming tommorrow. I sat at the entrance, looking at Nala, calm and peaceful in her dreams. I let out a long sigh and layed down next to her, and wrapped my arms around her. She stirred a little.

"Simba?"

"Yeah, just go back to sleep."

"mm, kay." with that she turned around, so that her head was in my neck and my paws were around her back. I breathed in her calming scent and shivered slightly as her breath mingled with my mane. My heart picked up a little but I fell asleep quickly because of the lioness in my arms.

I woke up to a low growl.

"Falo!" Some one hissed. "Leave them alone! He makes her happy, and they aren't doing anything wrong!" another growl but it was farther away. I blinked groggily and yawned a bit. The first thing I saw was a dark wall. I looked down and saw a sleeping cream lioness. Nala. I smiled at the name. It suited her perfectly. I rubbed her back a little and licked the rim of her ear.

"Nala." I called softly. "Wake up."

"Mmm? What.. What happened?" She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at me. "Good morning."

"Good morning. You do know they're waiting for us right?"

"*sigh* yeah, I guess we gotta get up." She got up and stretched then turned to look at me. I realized that I was staring. "Is something wrong?" I blushed a little and quickly got up to leave.

"Um no, everything's fine." I looked to the main cavern but then turned and gave Nala a soft peck on the cheek. Then left to find everyone snacking on some fruits. And Kuju undeniably in Lala land while staring at Kiki. Nala only came a little while after me. After a silent, small, breakfast, we started to climb up to the entrance before Jessikia stopped us.

"Wait!" she shouted looking at the entrance to a large tunnel. "I know this place...William, come over here!"

"Jessikia, there isn't anything over there, just an empty tunnel!" William attempted to veer her towards the entrance again but she jumped over his back.

"William, these are the emergency tunnels! The water must have made them bigger! We can get to the Pridelands easily through here!" she bounced on her toes excitedly and jogged inside the tunnel. "Well, come on!" The rest of the group followed her with a bit of hesitation and I saw William groan with a pained face. We followed the tunnels for several hours,  
>somebody checking every cave opening that led to the surface, to see our progress. After a couple of hours, Miko looked outside. And immediatly came back in.<p>

"Umm, Simba, Rafiki? I think you'll want to see this!"

We ran outside and saw a skinny, greyish lioness with matted fur and bites all over her body. She looked like an older lioness, not old but definately an adult. She was in a heap, slightly covered by dust and barely breathing. Rafiki and Hallete rushed over and started to do twenty different things and take out several different tonics, none of which I could keep track of. I neared the duo.

"Do you know who this is?"

"Dis is not good, Kings know how long she's been here!" Rafiki muttered, seeming to pour some water down the lionesses throat. Comepletely ignoring my question.

"Rafiki.." I started, making my words loud and clear. "Do you know who this is?"

"Dis, dis is Livali I believe. She left Priderock a long time ago, fleeing her daughter's rejection. Nobody knew where she went. We found her."

"Livali? Jari's mom?" I asked, to no one in particular. No one was paying attention because Livali started to cough and shake.

"No no no no no...Rafiki?" she shuddered and rolled over, promptly vomiting the water she was given and some lizard parts...gross and depressing.

"Your lucky to be alive Livali." Rafiki said, still working on her various wounds.

"No I don't *cough* wanto to be alive! Kill me Rafiki! Leave me! I failed to keep my daughter safe! She chose her father over me, TWICE!" her voice cracked and strained itself,  
>her eyes were filled with a sadness I couldn't place, like if she had her heart ripped into a dozen pieces and burned. "I came out here to die after realizing that life wasn't worth living. Just leave! Just-is that? Is that Simba?" Rafiki had moved a bit and Livali saw me, cutting her rant short. "Are you really Simba?" She tried to get up but her frail legs gave out and she fell again. I nodded slightly and padded over to her.<p>

"I am. Can you please tell us what happened?"

"Forget what happened! Please go and save my daughter! Get her away from her monster of a father! Please!" She broke down into sobs, no tears though. I doubt her body had any water for tears.

"Whos her father Livali? Just calm down. I will save her, just rest." I tried to calm her down because she obviously wouldn't stop straining herself until I promised.

"You will?"

"Yes, I will now please tell me what happened?"

"Yes. Scar happened. That's all you need to know. I'm just glad my daughter will be safe. Bring her to me when you do. Please." she smiled and seemed content of my promise and fell asleep, her breathing steady but obviously labored. I felt another weight pile unto my shoulders, one of a promise to a mother, one I wasn't sure I could keep. Nala walked over to me and gave me a sympathetic look.

"We should keep moving, we will place Livali inside the tunnels, where she will be safe. Hallette and Falo can look after her. When things are over at Priderock, we'll come back for you guys." Nala ordered, taking my place as leader when she saw that I was obviously disturbed. I was surprised when the otter couple didn't protests but only moved her body inside the tunnels with Kuju's help, who had gotten rid of his usual jester attitude and became serious. We all went back in the tunnels and continued our journey, everyone visibly shaken from the ordeal. Jessikia and William giving directions every now and then. Finally, we got to our first stop. The east side of Priderock, or close to it at least. My heart was twisted and my stomach was tied in a knot, it was Nala's turn to leave, and to get in position. The first to crawl out was Kuju, followed shortly by Kiki, leaving Nala below, next to me. She looked at me with a slightly sad look.

"Promise you'll be careful." She whispered, so only I could hear.

"Me be careful? Your gonna be running straight into dozens of hyena jaws!" I whispered back, slightly harsher. She laughed a little.

"And your going to challenge a phsycopathic tyrant."

"Touche. Let's just both be careful okay? But mainly you." I took a step closer and pulled her into a hug with one arm. I buried my head in her neck. Taking a deep breath. She pulled away and kissed me softly, making my heart twist even harder.

"I promise." Then, with one last small smile, she crawled out and left me alone. Comepletely overcome with worry. Miko motioned for me to move and I followed. Mind dominated with prayers for all of my friends. We eventually reached the north passage and I exited into a blinding sunlight.

**PLEASE REVIEW! Remember that Kuju, Kiki, Miko, and Tal are friends of mine and excellent trackers/hunters.**


	17. Chapter 17

JARI'S POV

I stalked my prey and watched as it went on its business. Comepletely oblivious to my presence. I needed to hunt something. I needed to. My mind wandered to a couple of weeks ago.

Several Weeks Ago...

Bonsu was there, waiting for me at the top of Priderock. We were going to get married in a couple of weeks and he decided that he was no longer afraid of me. Idiot. Now, everytime I met him, he actually talked to me. Like Maki used to do. Maki. The memory still stung. She had dissapeared. I stopped talking to her for a while because of my duties as Princess and when that got boring I went in search of her. A lioness motioned towards the grey plains when I called Maki's name. Confused I looked at the fields and spotted a spot of tan. Maki! She wasn't moving though so she must have been sunbathing or something. I really didn't think much of it then but when I got closer I realized something was off. She was in a heap, a heap of bones and skin. Just as I approached, the stench of rotting flesh filled my nose. No. It couldn't be. I ran to her and found that part of her skin was gone. Gone. Her body had dark spots, where her flesh had decomposed. Insects were feeding already and I noticed bite marks and torn skin where something had eaten her. EATEN HER! Someone had the audacity to actually EAT a lion. Only one animal on this planet would do that. Hyenas. The idiotic, cannabilistic, repungent, most disgusting animals ever! I felt a burning sensation in my eyes and tears rolled down my cheeks. I hadn't cried since my mother lied to me. Since the day Scar began his reign. I vowed to never cry again but this was too much. First, my love, then my mother, and now my only friend were all taken from me.

I felt something else burn in my chest.

Hate.

The word wasn't foriegn, I hated Nala when I was a cub, but this...was different. This made me feel...disgusted, infuriated, I wanted to kill them all. I wanted them to suffer. To bleed until their last breaths. To feel the pain and loss that I had. Tears dissapeared and were replace by bared fangs and unsheathed claws. They WOULD feel this pain. They would. I covered Maki with as much dirt as possible and outlined her body with stones. To save whatever respect I could for my deceased friend. Then I took off for Priderock to find Scar.  
>But something stopped me. I smelled something. The same stench that now dominated my home. The smell of dung, sweat, and blood. In other words, Hyena. A growl burst from my throat. My legs moved on their own accord, towards the smell. I slowed once I heard voices.<p>

"Why Kirako, that was one of the only meals I've eaten in weeks! Why did we have to leave it?"

"Because idiot!" A deeper voice countered "That was a lioness, just because she was dead doesn't mean it's any less dangerous to feed on her! Can you imagine what the others would do to us if they found out?"

I felt rage wash over me and blind my mind. I didn't care anymore if I was thinking or not. I burst from behind the boulder I was hiding behind and lashed out, claws extended. I felt flesh tear, heard voices scream and growl, warm blood trickled down my paw and stain my coat. I opened my eyes and found two injured hyenas, one female, one male, lying on the ground.  
>Deep gashes ran the length of their throats, chests, and stomachs. Did I really do all that? It didn't seem like a long time. Rage slowly seeped out of me like water dripping out of a dam.<br>The rush was gone, the sorrow was gone, I was empty. A shell. The morning had left me void of all feeling. I watched as crimson seeped from the wounds and the hyenas took their last ragged breaths. Their eyes rolled back. I ran. I ran and ran to the waterhole. It was reduced to a puddle but I had to wash the blood away. I scrubbed and licked and rinsed until the red was gone. Only then did I allow myself to breathe. To let go. And realized that it felt good. GOOD. to kill. To let them feel pain. It felt GOOD.

Present...

And now, hours before my marriage. I felt that need. It came frequently. I always resorted to killing hyenas. There were too many anyways. They could do without a few of them. Today was no different. I felt that void. The despair that was unescapable. So I killed someone. I felt the rush, the adrenaline, the emptyness, the fear, the panic, and then the relief. The absolute nothingness. I was fine now. I licked my paws dry and started for Priderock. The despair wasn't there, but there was a lingering sadness. After this, I would be bound to Bonsu forever, I would eventually become Queen. The barren wasteland would become mine. I really didn't want it. It wasn't what I remembered from my cubhood, it was a shadow of it. A Shadowland. I eventually reached Priderock and climbeds the side. And came face to face with Scar.

"What did you do?" He growled.

"What are you talking about?" I countered confused. What WAS he talking about?

"Don't play ignorant with me! You have been killing off the hyenas!" He yelled, coming closer to me, claws extended.

"There are rumors of rebellion! All because YOU, my daughter, have been hunting them down like prey!" He screamed at me, spit getting into my eyes, fear growing in my heart. My father had an infamous temper. What would he do? I had no idea that my endevors would be my downfall. I showed no emotion whatsoever and took a step foward, almost nose to nose with him.

"I have NO idea what your talking about. What sad little convoulsive liar told you that?" I stated not so calmly. The rage that was evident dissapeared in his face. He smiled slightly. I should have taken that as a warning.

"Just a lioness, I don't even remember her name. But surely you will forgive me dear?" he said, his voice dripping fake sympathy. Warning number 2.

"Of course." I replied. Still on high alert. He motioned for me to follow him up towards the den and stopped to face me at the entrance.

"Now." he ordered. Slightly confused, I looked around as about a dozen hyenas matieralized from the rocks. I turned to Scar, beyond livid.

"I don't like being lied to Jari. Not at all." The hyenas chuckled with pleasure at being able to get such an easy shot at me. I was hyena chow. I extended my claws, ready for a fight when a short yelp sounded from my right. A small shower of pebbles rained down on us.

"What in blazes?" Scar muttered, starting for the direction of the yelp. Suddenly a large dark-tannish lion jumped down from my left. What the heck was going on?

SIMBA'S POV

Priderock loomed before me. Large, intimidating and covered with swirls and different colored layers of rock. Just like I remembered. Memories flooded my mind, Mom calling me home for dinner, the first time I met Nala, the time she almost fell off the side of Priderock because of a prank I pulled, the time when Nala broke her paw and got stuck in the den for 3 whole weeks. I shook my head. Why, even when I was thinking of memories, did they all gravitate towards Nala? She was fine, I knew that she was fine. I started to remember other things. Some made me smile, some made me groan slightly with embarassment. But when I heard voices, the memories faded away and my mind snapped to attention. Me, Miko, and Tal raced behind some boulders and tried to slow our racing hearts.

"Didya hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Scar finally got the drop on that little murderer!" Muderer?

"He did? Is that where we're going?"

"Yep! Only his highest officers get a shot at her! We gotta go to the den entrance. He'll be there with his little treacherous Jari for her punishment!" Jari? She was a murderer? What did she do? I finally breathed after the two hyenas left and motioned for us to follow them. We hid behind boulders and other rock formations, all the while keeping the two hyenas in sight. We were nearing the den entrance when Miko put a paw on my shoulder. I almost let out a yell, he scared the heck out of me! He motioned for where Tal was climbing a ramp.  
>I followed it with my eyes. The ledge would leave us almost directly above everyone, just slightly to the left. Perfect. We followed the ledge until we could see the gathering taking place below. I scanned the various faces until one struck me.<p>

Scar.

His face was calm and happy. He was skinnier than I remembered and his mane was matted and scraggely. Probably from malnutrition. But his eyes were still the same vibrant green that I remembered, and still just as unreadable, just as mysterious. A growl almost escaped at the sight of him. I turned away and saw a lioness. Thin, with slightly angular features and the same green eyes as Scar. Jari. I remembered her. She hated Nala when we were cubs, for reasons still unknown. She was now staring menacingly at the hyenas surrounding her, claws extended, ready for a fight. I tensed, ready for the signal from Rafiki who was supposed to be opposite us to come, but instead I heard a loud yelp from William and a shower of pebbles from their position. They were going to be spotted! Tal apparently thought so too because panic shone in her dark brown eyes before she set her jaw and jumped into the middle of everything. WAS SHE CRAZY! Next to me, Miko opened his mouth in shock, then closed it and bit his lip in fear. This was TAL! she never did something like this! She was mostly quiet, unless she was with Nala and Kiki, and she usually was scared to do anything dangerous. AND SHE JUST FREAKIN JUMPED IN FRONT OF A DOZEN HYENAS! Scar's reaction was just like ours.

"Tal? What are you doing here?" He seemed confused.

"I came back because it's a barren wasteland out there Scar. I'm ready to come back home." she said, relatively calmly as she sat down in an empty space in front of him.

"Well, we WERE in the middle of something dear Tal, but all things considered, I'm listening." Scar's eyes scanned every inch of Tal's body. It was disgusting. Miko's fear mixed with anger and his face pulled back in a terrifying expression.

"I left the other's. I'm here to right the wrong I made many months ago. I'm here to say sorry. Am I back in?" She asked, a hint of fear creeping in to her voice as Scar neared her. I then realized that she was buying time, waiting for Rafiki's signal for me to go in and save the day. For Nala's group to come in with all of the remaining lionesses. A cue that Miko tried to ignore by comeplete. He tensed his muscles and was about to pounce on Scar when I stopped him with a paw to the chest.

"No," I mouthed. He shot me a murderous look.

"Your expecting me to just sit here and act like like that!" he gestured towards Scar circling Tal, still oogling her for emphasis "Isnt happening!" he hissed. I then realized the utter hate and fear gleaming in his eyes.

"I expect you to trust Tal. She's a genius. She knows what she's doing." I whispered back. It was true, she was extremely smart. I just didn't know if she really DID know what she was doing. Miko just sighed and turned back to Tal, biting his lip and muttering what I could only assume was a prayer to the kings.

"Nice, very nice..." Scar muttered under his breath. But not low enough. Miko looked livid. "You have grown very much over the past few months Tal. Very, Very much." He finally addressed her and sat in front. By now, a larger crowd of hyenas gathered to see what had happened and why anyone wasn't screaming. Fear was evident in Tal's eyes, she was following Scar's every move with quick nervous glances towards the, now dozens, of hyenas surrounding her.

"I'm still waiting for a verdict Scar." she said, her voice wavering.

"As a king, my life can be very ...stressful...my mate, Zira, is ill and cannot help me. But you, my dear, you can." He smiled a sick smile. Tal recoiled in disgust. Her claws came out and she growled. One I didn't know she could muster.

"You, you BASTARD!" she yelled. Tal never called anyone anything. This was totally new. "You have the audacity to even SUGGEST something like that?" Tal looked about ready to kill him. Which was saying alot, for Tal. Scar merely laughed.

"It's not like you have a choice dear Tal, either accept..." he pointed towards the hoards of hungry hyenas "...or die."

"DIE! I'd rather DIE!" Tal screamed at him, paw already on the way to slap him. But Scar beat her to the punch, litteraly. With a deafining crack, his paw connected with Tal's jaw, knocking her to the ground with a cry of pain. 3 red gashes ran the length of her cheek. Miko finally lost it, jumping down in front of Tal, nudging her gently with his muzzle. At the same time, the hyenas parted in surprise at the arrival of about 13 skinny lionesses. All being led by Nala, my mother, and Kiki. I almost jumped for joy when I saw my mother and Nala alright, but I turned my attention to a confused Scar.

"IS EVERYONE COMING BACK TODAY?' he yelled in frustration. A rattle from Rafiki's infamous stick was all I needed as I bounded down the rocks to land next to a now VERY angry and VERY scary looking Miko standing over Tal protectively. William, Jennarei, and Rafiki slid down from the opposite side and took their place next to the lionesses and Kuju found his way next to Kiki. The look on Scar's face was priceless.

"Yes," I said with a smile. "Yes they are." 


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry if you hate multiple POV's but I had to go back to them. Sorry also if the battle is terribly written, I'm not so good at battles and I must have rewrtitten this about 5 times. So ENJOY! Or not. But ALWAYS REVIEW! Please?**

**NALA'S POV**

We had no trouble getting to Priderock. All of the hyenas were looking at something at the den entrance. We ran up to the base of Priderock and looked around desprately for any lionesses. They found us first. I had barely been at the bottom for more than several seconds before a dark tan blur jumped on me from above.

"Who are you?" She growled. I expertly flipped us over with my signature move and had her pinned (I realized it was a lioness) but only for a second because she flipped me over and had me pinned again. With MY move! Only one other person knew that move. I was afraid to look but when I did I noticed two bright blue eyes looking down. The same eyes I had. The lioness apparently realized the same thing because she climbed off of me and looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Nala?" her voice cracked but it was her.

"MOM!" I almost yelled but I remembered where we were. I ran up to her and gave her a hug. She squeezed me so tight I couldn't breathe.

"You alive, your alive! Oh thank the kings your alive!" she whispered the words so that only I could hear her. Warm tears flowed from her eyes and wet my shoulders.

"Mom.." I whispered. "...I can't breathe!" She laughed slightly and let me go. She had a warm smile on her lips.

"Nala...how are you alive? How are you here?" she nuzzled me slightly. I laughed.

"I'll tell you later, but now, we gotta get up there!" I pointed towards the wall of hyena backs.

"But what's going on?" she hissed.

"Okay, I'm here, Kiki, Tal, EVERYONE's here! Even Simba! We-"

"Simba? He's alive?" She cut me off.

"Yes, he is. I promise I'll explain later but right now, I need you to help me get the other lionesses up there to help him!" I was getting impatient. Mom nodded in response and dissapeared underneath Priderock, returning only moments later with 12 other lionesses. Sarabi amongst them. Kiki and Kuju's mother's were trying to get to them and tackle them with motherly love, but one stern glare from the former Queen prevented them. We all bounded up Priderock to hear yelling.

"You, you BASTARD!" it was Tal's voice. What could have gotten her so worked up to call someone such a name? "You have the audacity to even SUGGEST something like that?" I'm guessing they suggested something she REALLY didn't like. We all quickned our pace to get there quicker. "DIE! I'd rather DIE!" Tal again. We ran at this point. We heard a yell at the same time that the hyenas realized we were there and parted the way in surprise. Scar seemed comepletely pissed and freaked out when everyone else came down from their hiding places. I saw Tal, hurt on the ground witha an extremely pissed Miko standing over her. Simba cast me a small smile before looking towards Scar.

"Yes, yes they are." Scar took a step back as a look of fear spread across his face.

"Mufasa?"

**SIMBA'S POV**

It was barely a whisper. He thought I was my Dad. Did I really look that much like him? I let out a small laugh.

"Don't you remember me? Uncle Scar?" Scarcasm dripped from my every word.

"Simba? Oh my dear nephew. How great it is to see you...alive." He cast a glance at some hyenas who I remembered from the Graveyard. The Graveyard. I mentally growled at the thought of that terrible day. Then again, Nala kissed me then, so it wasn't all that terrible.

"I think that I'm supposed to you know, ascend to the throne now?" I said. Waiting for his reaction.

"I don't think that's a very good idea. You wouldn't hurt me would you?" he said, slowly approaching.

"Well, I think I just might. You know, since I am the rightful heir, you destroyed my home, abused the pride, threatened to rape and then actually beat my friend?" I think I was doing pretty good.

"Oh no Simba. I would hate to have this end in violence. I wouldn't want to be responsible for the death of family member. Wouldn't you agree?" I winced slightly but recovered quickly.  
>It was a low blow. He was desperate. But I had to do this.<p>

"That's not going to work Scar, I put it behind me."

"But what about your little subjects hmm? Have they put it behind them?" I looked to everyone, Tal was up and leaning against a worried and confused Miko. Everyone looked confused.

"Simba, what is he talking about?" Nala asked. Voicing everyone's question.

"You haven't told your little girlfriend? Not even her? Well, why don't you tell them. Tell them who is responsible for Mufasa's death!" I gulped and took a deep breath before taking a step towards my confused followers. It all led up to this moment. All of the years of guilt and tears, all of the times I lied to my friends, to my Nala, about the truth were for this.

"I am." That was it. The truth. It was out. And I felt terrible.

"Its not true!" My mother stated coming closer to me. She was skinny and scars ran the length of her body. It hurt me to see her like that."Tell me it's not true!" She was begging me,  
>tears running down her face. My heart shattered.<p>

"It's true." Tears escaped to match my mother's. I didn't dare to look at Nala.

"See! He admits it! MURDERER!" Scar started to circle me.

"No! It was an ACCIDENT!"

"Mufasa's gone, it's your fault he's dead, do you deny it?"

"No." I stated. No more lying.

"Then your guilty!"

"NO! I'M NOT A MURDERER!" Scar was in front of me now, walking, tearing my heart into little peices with each word. Hyenas followed suit.

"Oh Simba, Your in trouble again, but this time Daddy isn't here to save you. And now EVERYONE. KNOWS. WHY!" With the final word said, I felt my foot slip at the edge of Pride-  
>-rock and grasped for anything to grab onto.<p>

"This looks familier, where have I seen this before, oh yes! This is just how your father looked, before he died." What? He saw my father? Before he died? With one fast movement, Scar latched on to my wrists, claws extended, cutting into my flesh, bringing a growl of pain.

"And here's my little secret, I killed Mufasa." With those three words, all of my past made sense. He sent those hyenas after us in the graveyard. He tried to kill me he purposely killed my father, he drove me away from home, not even caring if I died. HE LIED. He made me feel responsible for killing my dad, for doing something I didn't even do! All of the time I spent mourning my father and apoligizing, bottled up into one moment of adrenaline and I shot up, and pinned Scar down with every ounce of strength I had.

"MURDERER!" I hated him. I HATED him! He made me feel like I was responisble! As if my dad was gone because of me! But it was HIM. All of this time, it was HIM.

"No Simba please! You don't understand! I-" I cut him off with a paw to his throat. I didn't want any more excuses. Any more lies.

"Tell them the truth."

"Well truth is in the eye of the (chokes) Alright! I did it!"

"So they can hear you." Everyone took several steps closer.

"I KILLED MUFASA!"

Those three words unleashed hell.

All of the lions let out a terrifying roar and I got hit with a wave of hyenas. Claws and jaws tore at my fur and I swiped with my paws at anything that was harming me. I felt an enormous wieght lift off of me and saw Nala smirking.

"You just can't live without me can you?" She laughed as she helped me up. I was about to answer but more hyenas poured in from every direction. I swiped and clawed and bit and tore until it was possible to see the side of Priderock. Nala was still besides me.

"Go after Scar! I'll be fine!" She yelled over the screams and roars, finishing the sentence by knocking down another couple hyenas. I nodded in response and took off to find him. No easy task considering the rain falling down and lightning flashes blinding me. But there, climbing the side of Priderock, attempting to escape, was Scar. I growled and took off after him.  
>Coward. Leaving his army to finish the job while he fled.<p>

I was going to kill him.

**KIKI'S POV**

Scar was responsible! For everything! Hatered for the coward/murderer reached an all time high. We all ran and slashed at the hyenas. I clawed open throats, crushed wind pipes with my jaws and overall, just tried to survive. I felt claws rip my skin and jaws clamp onto my legs. But as quickly as it came, it was gone. There, panting and bloodied, was Kuju.

"Thanks."

"No prob."

And just like that, we fell in sync, fighting side by side, never missing a beat. I could hear roars of pain and howls of death. It ringed in my ears. Blood fell in my eyes and my whole body stung with multiple cuts and gashes. With a deafeaning "CRACK!" a lightning bolt struck nearby and set the dried up foliage ablaze with flames. I backed away from the growing inferno as the rain did nothing to subdue it. Heat radiated from all around me and I started to smell burning flesh.

This HAD to be what Hell was like.

**TAL'S POV**

That FREAKIN HURT! Scar slapped me hard. My jaw hurt and my face stung from the cuts inflicted by his claws. But that didn't matter because we were at war. NOW. I hated hurting people. It wasn't in my nature, but in this situation, I think I could make an exception. I thought I was doing good, that is, until Miko decided to take down everything that was coming at me.

"Miko!"

"What?"

"Stop it! I can take care of myself!"

"Really? Because your stunt back there proved otherwise!"

"I saved your butt! If I didn't do that, who knows what would have happened?" I knocked down another hyena before Miko could.

"All I know is, you got hurt because 'you could take care of yourself''!" With this statement, he slashed another hyena and it left whimpering in pain. Probably to get reinforcements. He turned to me, face bloody and scratched. His whole body was. I took a deep breath.

"Miko, I did what I had to. Nothing you could have done would have stopped me. Now please let me fight for myself. Your already looking bad!" I nuzzled him softly and licked blood off his nose. "I may not be as fast as Kiki, or as strong as Nala, but I CAN fight." I whispered the last part, mostly to myself. He smiled and licked my cheek. I felt a slight blush coming, even though now was hardly the time.

"I'm sorry, It's just that, if anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself." He touched his forehead to mine in a loving gesture he hadn't done in a long time, since we were cubs actually. The whole 'Scar taking over and friend dying' thing kinda put a halt on...well...us. I smiled. The moment was short lived however, when the hyena, in fact, did return.

With reinforcements.

**JESSIKIA'S POV**

Well, I was immediatly pushed back onto the ledge where I came from. And I was at a disadvantage. The lions were all bigger and stronger than the hyenas. I, on the other hand, was pretty much evenly matched with them. Even then, I managed to knock down, mabye even kill many of them. Usually, I climbed rocks and attacked them from above. When the crowd of hyenas thinned, I saw William making his way towards me. He lashed out with extended claws and bared fangs, coating the ground in even more crimson than it already was. I gagged when the stench of burning bodies reached my nose. There was a fire, PRIDEROCK WAS BURNING! I climbed higher to escaped the flames. I finally escaped it's reaches but I couldn't see William. Where was he? I searched the flames.

"William!" I screamed. Looking for any feline shape. "Where are you?" I coughed on the rising smoke.

"Yeah?" A voice asked. I screamed before realizing it was only William. I whacked his shoulder with my paw. "Ow!" he protested. "What was that for?"

"One, for letting me think you were burned alive in that hellish inferno, and two for sneaking up on me like that!" I couldn't keep a straight face when he pouted though and laughed. I nuzzled his neck a little.

"Mabye I should fake my death more often." He muttered as he nuzzled me back. I felt my heart race. He liked it? I pulled away and tried to calm my racing heart. He had a sheepish look on his face, as if he regretted saying it.

"Well don't, unless you want me to die of worry!" I laughed and looked down. I saw two lion shapes running through the flames. I squinted.

"Is that...Simba? And his Uncle...Scar?" I asked. William nodded.

"Yeah, mabye if we..." He searched until he found a large pile of rocks. "There!" he raced over and tried to shove them down the steep side, towards Scar. I followed the possible path of the rocks and mentally cheered at his genius. If he pushed them down, then Scar couldn't escape and Simba could finish him. One problem though. He couldn't push the pile over. My mind raced and I laughed as I found a simple solution. I walked up to pile and simply kicked out a rock near the bottom of the pile and the whole thing went tumbling down. I laughed at William's shocked expression.

"I could have pushed it over..." he scuffed his paw on the rock below him and blushed. I giggled and started to run down towards the hyena army.

"Sure you could!" I yelled over my shoulder. He just huffed and ran down after me.

**SIMBA'S POV**

I chased him. He was fast and familier with the path. I haven't been here in years, but I still managed to catch up. I slipped in a puddle and fell. I growled and cursed. He would get away!  
>I got up immediateley and ignored the stitch beggining in my side. I WILL get to him. I HAD to. I picked up the pace when I saw that we were nearing the end of Priderock and that he was moments away from escaping. Suddenly, a shower of small rocks and bigger boulders rained down. Blocking his path. Looking up, I saw two spotted cats. William and Jessikia!<br>I made a mental note to thank them afterwards. I slowed down when I saw Scar looking around nervously. I finally slowed to a stop. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Murderer." I was mad. Infuriated. WORSE. I was going to kill him.

"No Simba Please! I beg you, have mercy!" He begged, his ears were flat, his tail was between his legs. He was afraid. For good reason.

"You don't deserve to live." I advanced slowly. Claws out, teeth bared.

"No Simba wait, I am f-f-familyyy! It's the hyenas who are the real enemy! They did it! They planned everything!" I snarled. No more lies. And did the family thing stop him?

"Why should I believe you? Everything you say are lies." I towered over him.

"What are you going to do? You won't kill your own Uncle!" I blinked and the haze of hate and anger that surrounded me dissapated. He was right. I wouldn't kill him. Because that would make me like HIM. I would become HIM. I was better than that. I was NOT like him. I turned my attention to him.

"No Scar, I'm not like you."

"Oh thank you so much Your so-" he was blabbering.

"Run away Scar. Run away and NEVER return."

"Yeess...Whatever you wish," He started away, still cowering low, almost hesitant to leave. "Your MAJESTY!" He flung burning ashes at my face and I roared in pain. The ashes blinded me. When I finally got them off of my face, I saw Scar inches away from my face. He tackled me down and started to bite my throat. I roared again and pushe him off, swiping with my paws, aiming for his throat. My claws caught flesh and crimson fell to the ground. He was persistant and swiped at me. I felt my skn tear and blood trickle down. But I pressed on, swiping, slapping, clawing, biting until I felt my energy drain. If I didn't finish this, He would finish me.

He swung.

I fell.

He lunged for me, appearing through a wall of flames like the demon he was. And I lifted my legs, caught him, and shoved him over the edge. Nala saved me again, even when she wasn't here. I turned to see Scar bounce off boulders and continue his fall, letting out a grunt or yell of pain every now and then.

"Oh...my friendss." he sighed as hyenas circled him.

"Friends? I thought we were the ENEMY?" One said. The others laughed and nodded in agreement.

"No NO I didn't mean it I was NOOOO!" I shut my eyes and flattened my ears to try and block out the screams. He was gone. Scar was gone.

**Okay, so the usual, hate it? Love it? TELL ME! Press the Review button if you please.**


	19. Chapter 19

**The last chapter! Or is it? I might just put in an epilouge, or a sequel! What happened after that famous roar? I don't know if I will do it. I might just focus on Jungle Lessons now. Again, not sure. But not very pleased with this chapter, but couldn't find another way to do it. Enjoy!**

NALA'S POV

I don't know how long the battle lasted. I lost all sense of time. I split my focus on killing as many hyenas as possible and worrying about Simba. Was he okay? Did he beat Scar? Did he even make it to Scar? My thoughts were interrupted when claws tore into my flesh. With a deafening roar, I latched my jaws on a hyenas neck and bit. HARD. I heard a whimper and the body went limp. I tossed the body aside. I turned with a growl at other hyenas before one came running up and jumped on a boulder, howling loudly, averting everyone's attention to him.  
>We all stood confused.<p>

"Mua ha ha HE he Ooo! He he!" It was just a bunch of maniacal laughter! I couldn't make heads or tails of it! But apparently the hyenas could because they immediatly let out a unanimous growl and took off, towards the side of Priderock. My mother limped up to me.

"Um...What just happened?" she asked staring at the point where they dissapeared to. Suddenly we heard ear shattering screams. I cringed and prayed a thousand times over that it was Scar, not Simba. Mom nuzzled me softly, knowing that I was worried. No one moved as we looked, no stared, where the hyenas dissapeared. Where Scar (hopefully) was taken down had to be where Simba was. It HAD to be.

"What are we looking at exactly?" I whipped my head to see a bloody Timon and Pumbaa. I hadn't even realized they came.

"When did you? I mean what? When?"

"We helped Hallette and Falo drag Livali over here, then started beating some hyena butt!" Timon exclaimed, rather excitedly. I thought Pumbaa muttered something like 'Pig my grubs!'  
>I just shook my head and returned my gaze to that dreaded rocky ledge. Waiting. When several minutes passed and nothing happened, my heart fell. It plummeted until it crashed into the stony, blood coated ground in an explosion of shards. He wasn't coming, he wasn't coming. The hyenas got to him. I collapsed into my mother's shoulder in a heap of hurt. Tears flowed freely and my throat closed. He was Gone! Simba was gone! I let darkness take over and sobs wrack my body. I barely felt my mothers paw rubbng my back. Barely heard her reassuring words. He was gone. Simba, the only lion I've ever loved, was gone. He was GONE!<p>

There was a gasp. My mother tapped my back.

"Nala?" she whispered.

"What?" I choked out, my voice muffled by her fur.

"Just look up." it wasn't my mother's voice. I almost choked on my own breath. I looked up. There, standing before me, was a celestial sight.

Simba.

Bloodied and bruised but ALIVE! I finally snapped out of my stupor.

"SIMBA!" I closed the 3 foot gap in less than half a second and tackled him to the ground. Licking every inch of his face.

"Ha ha! Nala! ha ha ha! Sto-o-o-p it!" he laughed protesting, although he didn't try to push me off. He was alive! Simba was alive! In front of me! I finally stopped licking his face and just stared at him. He smiled.

"Your alive." I whispered. "I thought you were dead." I then frowned and whacked his shoulder, then got off from him.

'What happened to the excited lioness who was showering me with affection just moments ago?" he protested, rubbing his shoulder with a slight frown, although he mostly looked amused.

"That was for letting me think you were dead." I leaned forward and locked my lips with his. Earning me a surprised "Hmm!" from Simba. I didn't care. I placed a paw on the back of his neck and dug my nails into his mane a little. I finally pulled away, slowly. And giggled at his surprised expression. His eyes were wide.

"And that was for?" he asked, slightly squeaking.

"For saving the pride, taking responsibility, killing you deranged Uncle, saving my butt, you know. Overall Hero stuff." I rubbed his nose with mine slightly. He cleared his throat and blushed a little.

"No problem ma'am." he said puffing his chest out a bit. I giggled again. he leaned in and closed his eyes slightly, probably for another kiss, but I stopped him with a finger to the muzzle.

"Your Mom's coming." I said, giggling at his slightly sad expression. He turned his attention to his mom and nuzzled her cheek. Their conversation went along the lines of alot of 'your alive!'s and laughing. I giggled as all of us tried explaining what had happened since we left. We didn't get far though, because Rafiki shook his stick, drawing all of our attentions.

Simba glanced at the tip of Priderock, then to me. I nodded excitedly and smiled. He smiled and started walking towards Rafiki. After a thankful hug, he made his way to the tip. I shed a tear. He was here. After joking about it as cubs, after trying to forget it as teens, to training for it for months, we were here. HE was here. At the edge, he looked down at the kingdom that was his for the taking. He looked to the clouds that were now raining down on us. Lost in a trance. Then with a renewed vigor, he let out a mighty roar, one that echoed of the mighty walls of Priderock. A joy and peace spread through my body. He was the king. We all roared back, showing our acceptance. He was home.

We were home.

We were HOME.

**So? Love it? Hate it? Should I make an epilouge? Or a longer sequel? Review please!**


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